Jan 19, 2013; Waco, TX, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers forward Jess Harlee (14) during the game against the Baylor Bears in the first half at the Ferrell Center. Baylor won 76-58. Mandatory Credit: Jim Cowsert-USA TODAY Sports

Basketball:

It was a light week for the the women’s basketball team as they had 6 days to prepare for their road contest at TCU.The Mountaineers made the most of their time off, as was evident in their 66-56 road victory.

West Virginia held constant with the Horned Frogs for the majority of the first half, taking a slim 2-point lead into the locker rooms. After the first half, the Mountaineers began to steadily separate themselves from TCU behind strong performances from stars Ayanna Dunning (15 points and 8 rebounds) and Taylor Palmer (19 points).

The Mountainers also got big contribution from the ladies off the bench who chipped in with 20 total points. Brea Holmes and Jess Harlee were a big part of the Mountaineers success in the second half.

The win seals West Virginia’s season sweep of TCU and moves the Mountaineers record to 8-7 in Big XII play.

WVU will host top-ranked Baylor tomorrow night at the Coliseum before hitting the road to Texas on Saturday to wrap up regular season play.

Gymnastics:

WVU gymnastics hosted a quad meet this past weekend against #3 Michigan, Towson, and New Hampshire in the Wendy M. Roach Invitational Pink Meet.

The Mountaineers came up with a season high 196.55 score, good enough to take second place at their own meet. West Virginia’s outstanding performance was highlighted by a victory on the uneven bars.

 “To close the meet with two solid performances and for those scores to push us to our season-best team total – wow,” Butts adds. “That was just fun, and it helps build the confidence of this team. That will be what’s fresh on their minds next week, and that rotation is what will help us climb higher. They just need to keep having fun – they’re winning this season every day in the gym.”

WVU came in second, posting season highs, in vault, beam, and floor competitions.

WVU defeated Towson (196.55-193.15) and New Hampshire (196.55-194.875) while losing to Michigan (196.925-196.55).

The wins pushed the teams record to 8-6 overall and to #16 nationally. West Virginia will now prepare for their second straight home quad meet. WVU will host #13 Denver, George Washington, and Temple at the Cary Gym this weekend.

Swimming:

The WVU swim team revs up to prepare for the Big XII Championships this week in Austin, TX on February 27-28.

Tennis:

WVU improved there play this past weekend at Penn State, but still failed to register a win since their home victory over Marshall a month ago. Against the #48 ranked Penn State tennis team, the Mountaineers played strongly in a 5-2 loss.

The Mountaineers wins were notched by Ikttesh Chahal in the third singles match and the team of Audrey Wooland/Emily Mathis in the second doubles match.

The loss drops WVU’s record to 1-6. The Mountaineers will attempt to break their winless streak this coming weekend with a neutral-site match with Virginia Tech at Charleston this Saturday.

Track:

The Mountaineers got roughed up at the Big XII Track Championships this past weekend in Ames, IA.

West Virginia registered 20.5 points in the meet, finishing 10th out of 10 teams. The Mountaineers missed a 9th place finish by 16.5 points, failing to pass TCU.

The Kansas Jayhawks, ranked #5 nationally, took home a win at the meet with a score of 150.5.

WVU will have to regroup to have a more successful outing on March 1-2 in the Columbia Last Chance meet in New York, NY.

CREDIT: sportsintegration.wvu.edu

When it comes to rebounding in WVU women’s basketball, one name stands above all others: Olivia Bradley.

Bradley owns 8 of the top 10 single game rebounding totals and 16 of the top 25 single game marks. She also holds the Mountaineers career rebounding record with 1,484 rebounds, besting any other Mountaineer by over 400 rebounds.

Bradley’s best performance came this day, 27 years ago, in a home match against the Temple Owls. The game against the Owls was one of the most exciting games of Bradley’s senior season. WVU had to take Temple to 2OT to secure a 86-81 victory.

The extra two periods gave Bradley ample time to come away with an imposing 28 rebounds. Bradley played 43 minutes, adding 13 points to her record-setting rebound total.

Bradley’s record night broke her own previous record of 27 set against George Washington in 1983.

Fans of Mountaineers women basketball know that when it comes to cleaning the glass, noone comes close to the 6’1″ Olivia Bradley.

December 1, 2012; Morgantown, WV, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers mascot reacts after a WVU score against the Kansas Jayhawks during the fourth quarter at Milan Puskar Stadium. The West Virginia Mountaineers won 59-10. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Today marks the anniversary of a major single game record in the West Virignia University women’s basketball program history. Today is the 15th anniversary of Christie Lambert 38 point explosion at Providence, setting the WVU single game scoring record.

Lambert’s 38 points against the Friars took down the previous record of 37, set by Rosemary Kosiorek (January 22, 1992 vs Marshall) and Donna Abbott (February 18, 1989 @ Saint Joseph’s).

Lambert’s huge point total was fueled by 9 of 16 shooting from three point range. The 9 three pointers made are also a single game record, one that surpassed the previous record of 8, set by Lambert herself (February 23, 1995 @ Saint Bonaventure).

Jan 25, 2011; Washington, DC, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers guard Sarah Miles (5) and West Virginia Mountaineers guard Taylor Palmer (2) talk during the first half at McDonough Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rafael Suanes-USA TODAY Sports

Both Lambert’s scoring record and three pointers made record are standing in tact, but have been threatened in recent seasons by WVU’s talented junior Taylor Palmer.

Palmer had a 33 point game last season in a home win over Youngstown State (November 11, 2011) and made 8 three point shots in that same game as well as 19 days ago in the loss at Oklahoma.

While Lambert’s records have stood for 15 years, it appears as though Taylor Palmer will be rewriting the WVU women’s basketball record books as soon as this season.

CREDIT: http://ohhs.faye.k12.wv.us/athletics/hall_of_fame/eighth.html

Cindy “Sam” Booth came to West Virginia University as one of the first scholarship players in WVU women’s basketball history.

Booth was a talented 5’6″ guard that helped found the Mountaineers program, taking the Mountaineers from an inaugural 4-10 season to a competitive 19-7 squad by the time she graduated.

Booth recorded the program best 11 steals on January 20, 1975 in a road contest at West Virginia Wesleyan in just the second season of West Virginia women’s basketball.

Booth’s steals, paired with her 6 points from the field, helped fuel a 65-52 road victory for the Mountaineeers.

The record 11 steals would not be matched for 21 years until Maria Tchobanova would equal the mark in a January 4, 1996 victory over the Pitt Panthers.

Since her days in Morgantown, Sam Booth went on to earn her PhD in Athletic Training and currently serves as the Head Athletic Trainer at Moorhead State University in Minnesota.

Her professional and athletic accolades earned her induction into the Oak Hill High School Hall of Fame, where the photograph above is sourced (you can read more of her bio at their site).

Jan 4, 2012; Hartford, CT, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers guard Taylor Palmer (2) reacts after a play in the first half against the Connecticut Huskies at the XL Center. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

Quite a tough week for the basketball team. The Mountaineers opened their inaugural Big XII conference slate with two agonizingly close losses.

Mike Carey’s girls went out to Norman, OK to kickoff their Big XII campaign with a momentum building win. What they came back with was a heartbreaking loss. A disappointing result given that the Mountaineers had a 9 point lead early in the second half of the game.

Taylor Palmer fueled the Mountaineers upset bid over the #16 Sooners with 24 points in the first half. Oklahoma found a way to lock her down in the second half, keeping Palmer to only 6 points in the second half. Even with Palmer’s struggles in the second half, there were two glaring deficits in the Mountaineers game: rebounding and personal fouls.

The Mountaineers got owned on the glass by a 44-31 margin. Ayana Dunning, WVU’s woman on the glass, was only able to bring down 5 boards. It is not as if the Mountaineers weren’t playing physically, they played just a hair too physical in fact. WVU got into serious foul trouble late, having three starters foul out and a total of 32 team fouls.

In contrast, Oklahoma only took 15 fouls. That led to a massive disparity in free throw shooting, with the Sooners taking 26 more attempts than the Mountaineers. You cannot allow your opponent that many more opportunities at the charity stripe than you and expect to win. WVU lost a tight 68-71 decision.

Three days after dropping a close game to the Sooners, the Mountaineers returned to Morgantown to face the Kansas Jayhawks in their Big XII home opener.

West Virginia held leads of 13 and 6 points at varying points throughout the game, but the #21 Jayhawks battled back in each instance to tie the game. Taylor Palmer once again led the Mountaineers in scoring with 24 points.

And once again, unfortunately, the Mountaineers played far to physical on the defensive side of the court, committing 27 fouls to Kansas’ 16. Had the Mountaineers not put the Jayhawks on the line 20 more times than they were there (34-14 margin), then WVU would not have been in such a close affair. Kansas used their free throw margin to hold off WVU, 59-60.

This coming week, the Mountaineers will host Texas on Wednesday January 9 at 7 PM and then travel to play at Kansas State on Saturday January 12 with a 4 PM tipoff.

Mar 19, 2012; Norfolk, VA, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers guard Christal Caldwell (1) shoots the ball over Stanford Cardinal guard Grace Mashore (1) during the first half in the second round of the 2012 NCAA women

This will be Mountaineers fans first chance to see the ladies take the court since their exhibition blow out 102-28 victoru over Alderson-Broaddus. WVU got plenty of good minutes for virtually every lady on the roster with many of the players recording double-digit point totals.

The Mountaineers look to keep the blow outs coming with their match-up with UNC Wilmington. Mike Carey’s squad is hungry to make their presence felt in the Big XII and an early crushing of teams like UNC Wilmington will put the conference on notice.

WVU will be led this season by junior guards Christa Caldwell and Taylor Palmer. Both guards were one and two in scoring last season with 10.8 and 10.6 points per game respectively.

Inside, WVU will lean on big girl Ayana Dunning who pulled down better than 8 rebounds a game last season. For WVU to compete in the Big XII, where teams typically have talented inside players, Dunning will have to have a monster senior season.

Dunning will look to start her big senior season with a great showing against UNC- Wilmington tomorrow night. Be sure to get to the Coliseum and sign up for Carey’s Crew!