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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Following a phenomenal performance in her career all-around debut on Jan. 24, sophomore gymnast Zaakira Muhammad has been named the West Virginia University Student-Athlete of the Week, presented by University Apartments.

VSR

Muhammad, a native of Pennsauken, New Jersey, scored 39.325 and finished first overall in the No. 22-ranked Mountaineers’ 195.8-190.075 victory over William & Mary at the WVU Coliseum. In addition to her all-around win, she also finished first on floor with a career-best 9.95, the 17th-best mark in program history, and placed second on vault (9.85) and bars (9.8); the vault mark matched her season high. Muhammad also scored a career-high 9.725 on beam in her season debut.

Muhammad’s floor score punctuated an exciting rotation for the Mountaineers, as the team tallied a season-best 49.3 on five counting scores of 9.8 or better. The squad has now scored a season-best 195.8 in back-to-back meets.

This Week in Women’s Basketball: No. 24-ranked West Virginia visits No. 21-ranked Oklahoma on Wednesday, Jan. 27, in an 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT contest in Norman … the game is televised on FOX Sports Southwest Plus and can be watched locally on FOX College Sports Central … WVU returns home to host No. 4-ranked Baylor on Saturday, Jan. 30, in a 4 p.m. tilt at the WVU Coliseum … the game is televised on Fox Sports Net and locally on ROOT SPORTS Pittsburgh … Saturday is a Gold Rush and fans are encouraged to wear gold for the game … the contest also is Alumni Day, and WVU will welcome former Mountaineer greats back to the Coliseum … Family Day tickets can be purchased for $25 … the package includes four tickets, four hot dogs, four sodas and popcorn … the Family Day package must be purchased before 5 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 29, by calling 1-800-WVU GAME.

Last Week in Women’s Basketball: West Virginia moved to 16-4 overall and 5-2 in Big 12 action with a 97-84 win over TCU on Sunday … three Mountaineers eclipsed the 20-point plateau in the win … Jessica Morton netted a career-high 26 points, while Bria Holmes registered 24 points … Teana Muldrow inked her first career double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds … the Mountaineer trio of players scoring 20 or more points happened for only the second time in program history … the first occurrence happened in December 1996 when Rebecca Burbridge, Talisha Hargis and Christie Lambert all scored 20+ points … WVU finished shooting 56.1 percent from the field and outscored TCU’s bench, 53-12.

Notes: WVU moved up one spot to No. 24 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll on Monday … Bria Holmes moved to No. 3 on WVU’s all-time scoring ledger with her 24 points at TCU … Holmes surpassed Talisha Hargis and has now registered 1,758 points in her career … WVU’s 97 points vs. the Horned Frogs were the most scored for the Mountaineers against a Big 12 opponent since joining the league in 2012-13 … WVU is 16-1 this season when leading at the half … the Mountaineers are 16-2 when scoring 60 or more points … WVU’s bench point average of 31.2 points per game leads the Big 12 Conference.

Coach Mike Carey Quote after Sunday’s win at TCU: “I was worried about the layoff because I thought we’d have a lot of energy or come off sloppy. We’re deeper this year off the bench. When somebody is having a bad night, someone else can step up and have a good night. I thought in the first half we played really well and in the second half we seemed tired.”

This Week in Women’s Tennis: West Virginia returns home for a doubleheader against Toledo and Cleveland State on Friday, Jan. 29, at Ridgeview Racquet Club … the match against Toledo is set to begin at 12 p.m., followed by Cleveland State at 4 p.m.

Last Week in Women’s Tennis: West Virginia fell short in its season opener against Pitt, 6-1, on Saturday, Jan. 23, at the Alpha Tennis and Fitness Center, in Pittsburgh.

Notes: Senior Hailey Barrett and sophomore Habiba Shaker clinched the Mountaineers’ only doubles victory of the day, as they defeated Pitt’s Amber Washington and Lolade Ogungbesan by a score of 6-1 at the No. 1 slot … Shaker then defeated Pitt’s Ogungbesan in straight sets (7-5, 7-5) at the No. 2 singles slot … the Mountaineers are now 29-6 all-time against the Panthers.

Coach Miha Lisac after Saturday’s match against Pitt: “I thought we had a very slow start. There were definitely some positives, and we battled back in some of the matches. Today was not very indicative of where the team is supposed to be right now. The girls battled well today, but we have to pick it up here in the next couple of weeks.”

This Week in Gymnastics: The No. 22-ranked Mountaineers do not compete this week.

Last Week in Gymnastics: WVU (2-2, 0-1) scored a season-best 195.8 at the WVU Coliseum for the second straight week and defeated William & Mary, 195.8-190.075, on Jan. 24 … WVU tallied season highs on floor (49.3) and beam (48.825) and also scored 48.875 on bars and 48.8 on vault … the Mountaineers swept all but the all-around podium finishes … sophomore Zaakira Muhammad made her career all-around debut and finished first with a 39.325 mark … she also won floor with a career-best 9.95 score … junior Alexa Goldberg finished first on bars for the second straight week with a 9.875 score … freshman Kirah Koshinski matched her career-best vault score of 9.9 and earned her second straight event win, while classmate Carly Galpin won beam with a career-high 9.875.

Notes: WVU’s floor total was its best showing since earning 49.325 on Feb. 24, 2013, at the WVU Coliseum … dating back to the 2015 season, the Mountaineers have scored 195.0 or better in six straight home meets … WVU had five counting scores of 9.8 or better on floor, including a career-high 9.875 from Koshinski … in addition to her winning all-around and floor totals, Muhammad also earned a career-high 9.725 on beam and matched her season-best vault mark of 9.85, good enough for second place … Goldberg finished second behind Muhammad in the all-around with a 39.125 score, her second straight 39.0+ mark … the Ivyland, Pennsylvania, native now shows a team-best 17 event victories … Galpin’s beam total is the team’s best individual beam score of the season … Goldberg opened the team’s beam lineup with a season-high 9.775 … the teams competed in an almost-empty arena Sunday afternoon, as the weather conditions in Morgantown forced WVU to close the meet to the public … additionally, Western Michigan had to pull out of the competition due to travel issues caused by the winter weather ... the Mountaineers entered the national rankings this week at No. 22, boasting a 195.083 season average … the ranking is the team’s first since the squad was ranked No. 25 on March 18, 2013.

This Week in Rifle: Up next, the No. 1-ranked West Virginia University rifle team competes against No. 10-ranked N.C. State on Saturday, Jan. 30, at the WVU Rifle Range and the WVU Indoor Track inside the Shell Building … the squad will hold its smallbore competition inside the range at 8 a.m. and move to the track for an air rifle match, scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. … a free youth clinic will be held at the track immediately following the competition.

Last Week in Rifle: The Mountaineers did not compete last week due to winter storm Jonas … the team’s Jan. 23 match at No. 14-ranked Navy was postponed until a further date.

This week in Track and Field: The Mountaineers return to State College, Pennsylvania, to compete at the Penn State National Invitational, Jan. 29-30, at the Ashenfelter III Indoor Track ... events are set to begin at 4 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 29, and at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 30.

Last week in Track and Field: Due to the snow storm in Morgantown, the Jan. 23 Marty Pushkin Classic, hosted WVU was canceled ... the meet will not be rescheduled.

Notes: The last time West Virginia competed at the two-day PSU National Invitational was in 2014 ... at the meet the team recorded a victory in the 4 x 800-meter relay and recorded a personal-best mark in the high jump.

This Week in Swimming and Diving: The Mountaineers will compete in a pair of meets this weekend, starting first with their final home meet of the season with Senior Night on Friday, Jan. 29, at the WVU Natatorium at 5 p.m. ... the WVU men and women will take on Villanova, while the women will also face Big 12 foe Iowa State ... the team will then travel to compete against Ohio State, Michigan and Buffalo in Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday, Jan. 30 at 1 p.m.

Last Week in Swimming and Diving: The Mountaineers were idel in competition last week ... Senior Max Spencer was named to the Big 12 Men’s Swimmer of the Week by the Big 12 Conference, after having outstanding performances against Pitt and TCU in back-to-back weekends ... Spencer won all four individual races and swept the breaststroke events against Pitt and TCU to help his team to a pair of wins ... the victories, along with a first-place finish in the 200 medley relay vs. Pitt, helped the Mountaineers down the Panthers in the annual Backyard Brawl on Jan. 9, before a Big 12 road win at TCU on Jan. 16 ... at TCU, Spencer bested the previous week’s times with two wins, a 55.10 in the 100 breaststroke and a 1:59.32 in the 200 breaststroke, which gave WVU valuable points in a close Big 12 win ... the award is the first of Spencer’s career and the third for the Mountaineers this season.

Notes: At Friday’s Senior Night, WVU will honor its 15 seniors: Morgan Emter, Kelsey Frantz, Aidan Fumagalli, Jaimee Gillmore, Ross Glegg, Jay Hickey, Jake Iotte, Natalie Johnsen, Emma Luigard, Andrew Marsh, Courtney Miller, Katie Murto, Lindsay Schmidt, Max Spencer and Chase Williams.

This Week in Wrestling: West Virginia will take on a pair of top-10 foes … the Mountaineers head to Blacksburg, Virginia, on Friday for a 7 p.m. match at No. 10 Virginia Tech … the team returns to Morgantown for a 1 p.m. dual with No. 3 N.C. State on Sunday at the WVU Coliseum.

Last Week in Wrestling: The Mountaineers dropped a pair of matches in Tempe, Arizona, on Saturday … Keegan Moore won by tech. fall while four other Mountaineers earned decision wins as WVU tied Arizona State, 17-17 … the Sun Devils took the match, 18-17, on match-point criteria … Moore, Zeke Moisey, Dylan Cottrell and Jacob A. Smith each picked up their second win of the day in West Virginia’s 20-15 loss to Stanford.

Coach Sammie Henson after Saturday’s matches: “We had some good wins and some bad wins. We need to capitalize on bonus points. We had opportunities in some matches, and we just didn’t make it happen. We have to believe in the system and keep grinding. All in all, it was a tough weekend with some missed opportunities.”

This Week in Rowing: The West Virginia University rowing team is idle until the start of its spring season.

Last Week in Rowing: The Mountaineers were idle last week.

Notes: The rowing novice team swept Duquesne, Pitt and Carnegie Mellon to conclude the fall season on Saturday, Nov. 7, on the Allegheny River … the novice 8 ‘A’ boat raced to a first-place finish with a time of 11:11.86, five seconds ahead of Pitt … the Novice 8 ‘B’ boat also won, finishing in front of Pitt with a time of 10:37.8 on a course approximately 200 meters shorter than the first novice 8 competition … in the last two races of the day, West Virginia finished first with a time of 11:40.8 in the Novice 4 ‘A’ race, followed by another first-place finish in the Novice 4 ‘B’ race … the Head of the Occoquan was the first regatta of the season for the novice team on Saturday, Oct. 31 … eight of the Mountaineers’ 10 boats posted top-10 finishes on the Occoquan Reservoir … WVU’s four medals came with first-and second-place finishes in the Women’s Collegiate Novice 4+, a bronze-medal finish in the Women’s Collegiate Novice 8 and a fifth-place finish in the Women’s Championship 4+ … the WVU rowing team also had a strong showing in its fall season opener at the Head of the Ohio, on Saturday, Oct. 3 … the Mountaineers placed first and third in the Women’s Open 4+ and second in the Women’s Open 8 … to open the day, West Virginia finished second in the Women’s Open 8, as it faced 12 boats to take a silver medal back home to Morgantown.

This Week in Golf: The Mountaineers are taking a winter hiatus and return to the course on Feb. 15, when they travel to Houston, Texas, for the President’s Day Challenge … the event will be hosted by Rice.

Last Week in Golf: WVU was idle last week.

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Muhammad Named Student-Athlete of the Week

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