WVU Advances to WNIT Finals
April 01, 2015 08:04 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – For the second consecutive game, the West Virginia University women’s basketball team rallied from a deficit in the final minute of regulation to force overtime and prevail 66-58 over Temple at the WVU Coliseum on Wednesday to advance to the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) Championship for the second time in program history.
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The Mountaineers (23-14) trailed by two with a little over a minute remaining in regulation. After a Crystal Leary steal, Bria Holmes connected on a pair of free throws with 12 seconds left to send the game to overtime.
Holmes once again found the net with a jumper at 4:34 in Overtime. Despite a valiant Temple effort, the Mountaineers outscored the Owls 13-5 in overtime to advance to the WNIT Championship game for the first time since 2005.
West Virginia will play UCLA in front of a nationally televised audience on CBS Sports Network this Saturday April, 4, at 3 p.m., at the Charleston Civic Center.
Holmes tallied a game-high 22 points in the victory. Senior Averee Fields belted out 20 points, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out three assists.
Sophomore center Lanay Montgomery put together a historic performance with 24 rebounds, eight blocks and four points. Montgomery’s 24 blocks were just two shy of a WNIT record. Her 24 rebound and eight block combination had never happened before at West Virginia.
“Offensively, we were not smooth at all,” noted coach Mike Carey. “There wasn’t enough movement on offense. Defensively, I thought we did a good job. Lanay (Montgomery) had 24 rebounds and eight blocks. To me, she was the difference. We knew they were going to drive and I thought she did a fantastic job on that. Averee (Fields) hit some big shots.”
Overall, there were 16 lead changes and seven ties in Wednesday’s thriller. West Virginia netted 58 rebounds and blocked 14 shots. The Mountaineers dominated the paint, outscoring the Owls 26-18. WVU also won the second chance points column, 14-7. WVU shot 37.5 percent (22-of-64) for the game and held TU to 29.6 percent shooting (21-of-71). The Owls were limited to just 1-of-6 shooting in the overtime period.
The back-to-back overtime games for West Virginia were the first since playing in consecutive OT games on January 1 and 3, 2006.
There were 11 lead changes in the opening half. West Virginia opened up to a four-point lead in the first three minutes, but Temple closed out the first half on a 7-0 run to take a 31-26 halftime lead.
WVU was limited to 32.4 percent (11-of-34) shooting, while TU knocked down 34.4 percent (11-of-32). The Owls made five triples compared to WVU’s one. The Mountaineers won the rebound edge, 27-21, in the opening half. Holmes had 12 points, while Montgomery pulled in 14 rebounds to lead WVU.
Tyonna Williams paced TU with seven points.
The Owls pushed their lead to eight in the first two minutes of the second half. However, WVU went on a 10-2 spurt to tie the game with 11:20 remaining. Fields’ mid-range jumper at 7:16 put the Mountaineers up, 44-42, for the first time since 6:32 of the first half.
A three-pointer by Williams put the Owls up 51-49 with 2:08 remaining. Williams found a jumper a minute later to extend Temple’s lead to three. She finished with a team-high 15 points for Temple. Linda Stepney and Holmes connected on three free throws to send the game in overtime.
Once in overtime, WVU outscored Temple 13-5 to prevail and reach its second WNIT Championship game. The Mountaineers will take on UCLA in the WNIT Championship game on Saturday, April 4 at 3 p.m. The contest is televised nationally on CBS Sports Network.
NOTES
WVU has reached the WNIT Championships for the second time in program history and the first time since 2005 … West Virginia has won 18 consecutive games against non-conference opponents inside the WVU Coliseum … WVU’s 19 home wins this season are a school record … West Virginia is 90-6 at home against non-conference opponents since 2002 … Bria Holmes scored in double figures for the 36th time this season and the 67th time in her career … Holmes had her 15th 20-point game of the season and the 24th of her career … Lanay Montgomery had a career-high 24 rebounds, breaking her previous-best mark of 17 rebounds against Baylor in January … Montgomery became the first player in program history with at least 24 rebounds and eight blocks in a single game … Montgomery’s 24 rebounds were tied for the fourth-most in a single game in program history … Montgomery had 14 rebounds in the first half … Averee Fields recorded her 32nd game in double figures this season and the 53rd of her career … Fields posted her sixth 20-point game of the year and the seventh of her career ... Holmes' 702 points is second all-time in a single season.
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