By Bob Hertzel
MORGANTOWN — It was midway through a first half of what had been advertised as a game of college basketball between nationally ranked teams, but sometimes it was really hard to tell what game they were playing.
It seemed to be a mix between roller derby, with the bumping, and dodge ball, with the way players seemed to be avoiding getting in the way of passes that were being thrown.
Basket? There was a rumor that one was hung at each end of the West Virginia University Coliseum for this matchup between the No. 8/9 Mountaineers and the No. 13/16 Georgetown Hoyas, but the players seemed reluctant to be using them.
With 9 minutes and 20 seconds gone in that first half, as Natalie Burton was summoned from her seat at the end of the WVU bench to replace Aysa Bussie, only 20 points had been scored by both teams, Georgetown possessing just two baskets and West Virginia three.
Burton had been intently watching the action, trying to figure out what Georgetown was doing and how Bussie had been attacking it, just in case her name was called, but this has been a year where she has had problems getting unraveled upon entering games. She carried just a 2.9 scoring average and 2.2 rebounding average into the game with her.
Who would know that this would be her day?
The first thing she did upon entering the game was to steal the basketball away from the Hoyas and while that did not lead to an immediate basket, her presence soon would make the difference in what would become a 55-46 West Virginia victory.
Before getting into Burton’s contribution, let us first clean up some minutia.
To begin with, this was a crucial game, for both teams in the Big East Conference. West Virginia was looking to win for the 15th straight time at home this season, which would be a record in a single season, and for the 17th time in a row stretching back into last season.
What’s more, with a dangerous Rutgers team coming in behind Georgetown on Tuesday, the Mountaineers knew they had to find a way to win this game.
But the play had been sloppy and Burton seldom does anything to solve that problem, her stat line showing a dreadful four assists compared to 31 turnovers. True to form, on this day she would have no assists and three more turnovers, but the rest of what she provided made the difference in the game.
Shortly after entering Burton would grab an offensive rebound and score. Moments later, as Georgetown was trying to make a run and had cut the lead to six, she scored inside.
Then, just to show that this Valentine’s Day would be special, she even made two of two free throws. By the time the day was over she was 5 for 8 from the line, matching her season total of made free throws and it had taken her 15 to get to that number.
Once more, before the half, Burton would score inside and WVU went to the locker room with a 31-19 lead.
“I thought Burton was great,” Coach Mike Carey would say when it was over. “That’s 11 points we weren’t counting on.”
Indeed, Burton finished the day with 11 points to go with six rebounds, five of them on the offensive boards.
It was a primo performance, one that obviously rankled opposing coach Terri Williams-Flournoy.
When asked why Burton was able to dominate, rather than offering a compliment about her skill or her determination, she simply said, “Because she’s 6-5. When you’re that big and go against our team, which stands 6-1 or 6-2 — with our shoes on … “
Let’s just say there was more involved here than simply her size. As Burton would point out, she’s that same 6-5 when she doesn’t play well.
The best part of it all was that Burton played well when the Mountaineers needed her. They didn’t shoot well and failed to protect the basketball. They did do a job on the boards with 46 rebounds, but it was mostly their defense that carried them.
It was almost as Carey noted, only half in jest:
“Before the game I emphasized two things — keep them off the boards. They got 20 offensive rebounds. And don’t turn the ball over. We had 25 turnovers. I did a helluva job this week.”
What he did best was understand that Burton could come in and give his team a lift, setting the stage for this week’s showdown against Rutgers and Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer. Rutgers is not having quite the year it normally has but at 7-4 is a dangerous opponent.
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
