Mountain Momma Monday: November 26

Only two of the Mountaineers women’s teams were in action during the Thanksgiving break: basketball and volleyball. It is a shame that neither team was able to come up with a win over the break.

Mar 04, 2012; Hartford, CT, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers guard Taylor Palmer (2) reacts after a play against the Georgetown Hoyas during the second half of the quarterfinals of the 2012 Big East Tournament at the XL Center. West Virginia defeated the Hoyas 39-32. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-US PRESSWIRE

Basketball:

Mike Carey’s team took to the court over the past weekend in the FIU Thanksgiving Classic.

The first game of the tournament pitted West Virginia against the LSU Tigers. The Mountaineers were involved in an up and down affair with both teams taking and surrendering leads throughout the game. WVU was able to close within a point at 62-61 with less than three minutes left in the game before going on a cold snap that would ultimately cost the team the game with a final score of 71-63. WVU shot fairly well from the field (30%) and from the three point arc (36%). The leading scorer for WVU was Taylor Palmer with 15 while LSU was led by Danielle Ballard with 25 points. Both players came off the bench to give their respective teams a scoring spark.

After losing to LSU, the Mountaineers were matched up with Iowa for a consolation game. The game was very physical, with both teams racking up personal fouls (58 in total). The Mountaineers played overly aggresive, collecting 35 fouls. Starters Cristal Caldwell, Ayanna Dunning, and Linda Stepney all fouled out in this contest. The rash of WVU fouls led to 50 free throw attempts for Iowa, which the Hawkeyes turned into 42 points.

The Mountaineers, who led by 7 points at half time, surrendered 54 points in the second half to Iowa, as a result of the vast disparity in free throw attempts (WVU only had 29 shots to Iowa’s 50). West Virginia had ample opportunities to beat the Hawkeyes, but could not shoot very well from the field, only converting 21 of 72 shots (29%). Taylor Palmer again led the Mountaineers in scoring with 23 points.

The Mountaineers will look to regroup before heading on the road to take on the Cavaliers in Charlottesville, VA on December 4 at 2 PM.

Gymnastics:

The team is still in pre-season conditioning and will not start their season until January 11 at Pitt. The team recently released their schedule poster which is available all over campus and at many retailers in Morgantown.

Coach Butts announced his 2013 recruiting class this past week. WVU received letter of intent from Brooklyn Doggette, Alexa Goldberg, Rachel Sine, and Nicolette Swoboda. For more on the recruits, see the full article on wvusports.com.

Volleyball:

The Mountaineers finished their 2012 season without a Big XII victory, falling to TCU 3-0 in Fort Worth, TX this past weekend. The Mountaineers kept the first two sets close, losing 11-25 and 15-25.

WVU fell behind in the first set by an 11-3 margin before finding their rhythm and finishing the set 8-14. Similarly, WVU could not find their rhythm in the second set, falling way behind at 20-3 before mounting a late charge to push TCU to 15-25.

TCU dominated the third set 8-25 to put the Mountaineers out of their misery.

Nikki Attea shined in the loss with 5 service aces and 8 kills.

WVU completes the 2012 season with an 8-22 (0-16 in Big XII).