Morgantown Dominion Post
Wells Encores With School Scoring Mark
December 23, 1984
Elkins - Georgeann Wells, one night after recording college basketball's first-ever slam dunk by a woman, tied the West Virginia all-time scoring mark to lead the Mountaineers to a 92-79 win over Marshall in the WVU Classic title game Saturday night at the Randolph County Armory.
Wells' 35 points tied the school one-game mark set by the Mountaineers's all-time leading scorer, Cathy Parsons, in a 1980 contest.
The win Saturday night also wrapped up WVU's first tournament win of any kind in the team's 13-year history.
Wells was named the tournament MVP for her heroics.
The University of Charleston behind Sherry Winn's 22 points, upended Fairmont State 72-63 in the tournament consolation game earlier in the evening.
In addition to her points, the 6-7 Wells brought down 19 rebounds to share high rebounding honors with teammate Olivia Bradley.
As a team, the Mountaineers out-rebounded the Thundering Herd 72-29.
Wells also blocked eight shots, while Elkins-native Alexis Basil dished off 11 assists.
Of her dunk the previous evening, Wells said, "I wasn't thinking about getting it tonight. Everytime I think about slamming, I miss it."
"My stomach had been bothering me all day," Wells added. "I don't know whether it was nerves or what. But after I slammed it was all over with."
Several women have been trying to make the first dunk in women's college basketball, including heralded University of Southern California star Cheryl Miller. But it was Wells who made the historic shot.
"It was there," she said. "I'm excited. Everybody's excited."
Charleston had scored to make it 83-80, but Wells had stayed in the backcourt. Senior guard Lisa Ribble spotted the lanky center and fired the in-bounds pass to her at half court, and Wells raced in for the slam with 11:58 to play.
West Virginia coach Kittie Blakemore removed Wells from the game after the dunk. She finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
The WVU Classic all-tournament team consists of Bradley, and Basil from WVU, Karen Pelphrey from Marshall, Rita Rhodes of Fairmont-State, and Charleston's Winn.
The Mountaineers (9-2) travel to Cincinnati Friday to take part in the Communiplex Classic.