Anderson's 23 Points Lead the Commodores Past EKU 91-62 11/9/01

Chantelle Anderson paced the Commodores to a fast start in a season-opening 91-62 victory over Eastern Kentucky on Friday in the first round of the Preseason Women's NIT.

Anderson, who led the nation in field goal shooting last season, made 11 of 15 attempts and scored a game-high 23 points. Freshman Ashley Earley (14 points), Jillian Danker (13), Jenni Benningfield (13) and Zuzi Klimesova (12) also scored in double figures for VU.

As a team the Commodores made 65.5 percent of their shots (38-for-58), the fourth-best shooting game in program history. The starting five of Anderson, Klimesova, Benningfield, Danker and Ashley McElhiney were a combined 28-for-41 (68.3 percent).
McElhiney had a game-high nine assists, and Danker added seven assists, which matched her career-high..

The Commodores host Oregon State on Sunday at 2 pm. Oregon State defeated Loyola Marymount, 65-58.

Post-Game Quotes

VU Head Coach Jim Foster

"I think we did some things decently, but there are some things we need to work on. "

"Our defense was good. We held last year's top scoring team to 62 points."

ON PLAYING 13 PLAYERS IN THE GAME:
"I felt like I was coaching a USA Basketball team. It is nice to have options."

VU Jillian Danker

"I thought this was a good first game. We found out what we have and now we have time to work everything out."

On 7 assists and 1 turnover - "I'd like to make that a habit."

EKU Head Coach Joe Inman

"We knew we'd have a mountain to climb coming in against VU. I thought we played hard, but lacked offensive consistency. Overall, I was very proud of the effort we showed."

"VU is a very big inside, but when we collapsed our defense, they hurt us outside. They are very balanced."