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No. 8 West Virginia beats Marquette 69-56

Feb 28, 2010 - 4:12 AM MORGANTOWN, W.Va.(AP) -- Korinne Campbell started hot as No. 8 West Virginia finished strong at home.

Campbell scored the first eight points and finished with a career-high 21, and the Mountaineers beat Marquette 69-56 on Saturday night to finish a perfect 17-0 at home this season.

"Korinne Campbell came out hot," West Virginia coach Mike Carey said. "We found her and she hit some shots. She's been playing well for us down the stretch and she's getting a lot of confidence offensively."

After transferring from Minnesota and sitting out last season, Campbell has helped the Mountaineers create a big home-court advantage - something Carey has emphasized from day one.

"It's great," he said. "We talked about it before the season started. We have to win our home games and go .500 on the road and we've done that."

The Mountaineers' 13 Big East wins are the most in school history and their 26 victories ties a school record.

Up 31-26, West Virginia (26-3, 13-2 Big East) opened the second half on a 20-6 run, constantly finding open players under the basket for easy buckets. Asya Bussie scored seven of her eight points on the run that put the Mountaineers up 51-32 with 12:39 left in the game.

The Mountaineers shot 54.2 percent (26 of 48) from the field, only the fourth time all year and first in Big East play that they have eclipsed the 50 percent mark.

Sarah Miles had 13 points and eight assists for West Virginia while Liz Repella added 10.

Angel Robinson paced Marquette (14-14, 5-10) with 11 points. Marquette fell for the fifth straight time and the seventh time in its last eight games.

Marquette was held to only one field goal for the first eight minutes of the second half and shot just 32.2 percent (19 of 59) for the game.

"Our players had a lot of fight and played very hard but we didn't get it done," Marquette head coach Terri Mitchell said. "We didn't hit our shots, and they played very good defense."

Five players scored during a 14-3 West Virginia run midway through the first half, and a Repella jumper made the score 26-12 with 6:75 before halftime.

Marquette held them to just one more field goal the rest of the period, and Robinson connected on a deep 3-pointer as time expired in the first half.

"We have to get off to a quick start and keep it and capitalize," Campbell said. "We have to make a statement."