Mountain Momma Monday: March 11

This week saw the end of two seasons and the start of another. The basketball and indoor track teams saw their inaugural Big XII seasons pass while track switches gear to prepare for the outdoor season. Gymnastics continued their strong performance while the tennis team bounced back from a rough start to the season to put together a string of victories.

This and more in our Mountain Momma Monday weekly recap.

Mar 9, 2013; Dallas, TX, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers guard Christal Caldwell (1) looks to pass the ball against Oklahoma Sooners guard Sharane Campbell (24) during the first half in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Conference tournament at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jim Cowsert-USA TODAY Sports

Basketball:

The inaugural women’s basketball Big XII season came in like a lion and left like a lamb.  The Mountaineers started the season with promise, ranked as high as #12. West Virginia had an up and down season, highlighted by multiple game winning and losing streaks, leading to a 17-12 regular season mark.

The final regular season loss came this past Tuesday in Austin, TX against the Longhorns. West Virginia played neck and neck with the Longhorns for the majority of the game, with Texas leading by only two points midway through the second half before blowing the game wide open with a 12 point margin.

Matter only got worse for the Mountaineers when forward Jess Harlee went down with an apparent knee injury. West Virginia, now short-handed, could not make up the double-digit deficit, falling to Texas 58-45.

The biggest heartache of the season came in WVU’s first Big XII tournament game yesterday. The #6 seed Mountaineers came out guns blazing against the #3 seed Oklahoma Sooners, amassing a commanding 19 point lead at the end of the first half. The Mountaineers would run their margin out to 22 points in the second half before suffering a monumental collapse, allowing OU to battle back for a 65-64 win.

The loss ends West Virginia’s season, pending a WNIT bid (which seems unlikely).

Gymnastics:

For the second week in a row, the Mountianeers gymnastics squad defeated the George Washingotn gymnastics team by a narrow margin. The Mountaineers rolled up a 195.45 score, second best score of the season for West Virginia.

WVU defeated GWU 195.45-194.5. The Mountaineers were led by senior Kaylyn Millick led the Mountaineers in scoring taking home her fourth all-around win of the season.

The win keeps the Mountaineers ranked at #21 in the polls. West Virginia will again hit the mat this Friday, March 15 to take on #24 Maryland and Rutgers.

Tennis:

The Mountaineers tennis squad rolled up a three match winning streak this week with a pair of home wins against California (PA) and Rutgers. In a strange turn of events for this season, West Virginia cruised to a pair of one-sided victories.

Against California (PA), the Mountaineers rolled to a 7-0 victory over the lesser competition. California (PA), hailing from Division II, were highly over-matched against West Virginia. The match was a good confidence booster for the Mountaineers after a really rough start to the season.

West Virginia would take their new found momentum into the Sunday match against Rutgers. The Mountaineers took a clean sweep of the doubles competition. In singles play, the Mountaineers took advantage of the Scarlett Knights, taking five of six matches.

With their non-conference slate complete, the Mountaineers will open Big XII play this weekend with a Friday home match against Baylor and a Sunday home match against TCU.

Track:

WVU freshman runner Kelly Williams took to the road to compete in the NCAA Indoor Track Championships in Fayetteville, AR this past weekend. Williams finished 7th in the mile run with a time of 4:39.30.

Williams run completes the inddor track portion of the season. The Mountaineers will head outside to open the outdoor track season this weeked at Wake Forest.