VU WBB: Vandy 77, Denver 56

The Vanderbilt women's basketball team revenged last year's loss to Denver with a 77-56 victory over the Pioneers Friday night in Memorial Gym. Four Dores scored in double figures, led by Christina Foggie with 23 points, including six 3-pointers, as Vanderbilt improved to 8-0 for the season.

A year ago the Denver Pioneers handed Vanderbilt a disappointing 70-65 when the Dores traveled to Colorado for a homecoming game for Hannah Tuomi. On Friday night the Pioneers traveled to Memorial Gym for a rematch.



An early 3-pointer by Elan Brown put Vanderbilt ahead for good.




But it was the 3-point shooting of Christina Foggie that stole the show. In the first half, she shot 5-for-7 from 3-point range.




Jasmine Lister scored 10 points with four assists and two steals.




Foggie was hitting from all over the court, from the right side, from the left side. The Pioneers were doubling in the post, and Foggie's shooting enabled the Dores to take advantage from the outside.




Clair Watkins finished with seven points, eight rebounds and an assist in 13 minutes of play.




"[Foggie} is just very confident and bringing another level of focus than she’s ever had and it’s carrying over to the game," said Head Coach Melanie Balcomb after the game.




Maggie Morrison dished out two assists and had three rebounds and a steal in 16 minutes of playing time.




Stephanie Holzer's jumper at the buzzer gave Vanderbilt a 49-21 lead at halftime.




The second half turned out to be a different story. After "winning" the first half by 28 points, Denver "won" the second half 35-28. The Dores, who shot 54% in the first half, only managed to shoot 31% in the second half, while the Pioneers improved from 25% shooting in the first half to 48% in the second half.

Balcomb thought that complacency might have been a factor. "We have a young team, and I think it’s difficult to maintain that lead and to maintain the intensity and the level of intensity that we want," she said. "When you get up that big, we haven’t had any trouble with that earlier in the season, but this game, I think we did. We just got a little complacent."

In addition, halftime adjustments meant that Foggie didn't get as many looks from the outside in the second half as in the first half. "It was a game of adjustments," Balcomb said. "Eric’s a very good coach, I’ve known him for years, and I knew he was going to make adjustments at halftime and we have to adjust to those adjustments."



Kady Schrann scored eight of her 10 points in the second half.




Teresa Wirth, Christina Wirth's younger sister, is a freshman for Denver, wearing the same number 34 as her big sister did during her years in black and gold.




The second half of the game wasn't always pretty, but nonetheless, the Dores managed to conquer and prevail to improve to 8-0 on the season.

Next action for Vanderbilt is on Sunday afternoon, when the High Point University Panthers visit Memorial Gym. The game will provide a homecoming of sorts for former Vanderbilt star Merideth Marsh, who is an assistant coach for High Point. Game time is 2 p.m.Follow @wbbVandyMania


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Photos copyright 2011 by Whitney D. for VandyMania.com