The WVU women’s basketball team had home-court advantage but it wasn’t enough to lift the Mountaineers into the WNIT championship game.
The Mountaineers fell, 64-61, to Virginia Tech at the WVU Coliseum. With this last loss, the West Virginia record was 25-12 on the season. It certainly is a solid campaign, but not enough for head coach Mike Carey.
Winning the WNIT would have been a nice accomplishment because it would add some more hardware to the trophy case. The regular season may have been a disappointment because of some lopsided losses in the Big 12 Conference. Winning the WNIT would have made up for a lot of those shortcomings.
The WVU basketball team had previously defeated Virginia Tech this season, but the Hokies were ready to surprise the Mountaineers in this postseason match up. Virginia Tech jumped out ahead early with a 19-12 first quarter lead.
The Mountaineers bounced back in the second half after tailing by eight points at halftime. There just wasn’t enough gas to close it out in the final frame. Both teams were short staffed only playing seven players.
For the Mountaineers, Teana Muldrow led the way in her final game in college. She scored 20 points and blocked six shots. Kristina King added seven points and grabbed 12 of West Virginia’s 24 rebounds.
The WVU basketball team was decimated on the glass with the Hokies grabbing 30 rebounds and scoring 26 points in the paint. Virginia Tech’s Taylor Emery led all scorers with 23 points. Rachel Camp added 14 points and Regan Magarity added 11.
Also for the Mountaineers, Naomi Davenport scored 14 points and Chania Ray had nine. West Virginia took care of the ball with only six turnovers and forced 13 turnovers on the Hokies. Emery proved to be a thorn for the Mountaineers as she grabbed five steals and no other player on her team recorded a steal.
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The Mountaineers will now face a long offseason. Losing Muldrow, Ray and King will be tough to replace, but Coach Carey always seems to reload instead of rebuild. The expectations should remain high for the WVU women’s basketball team.