Mountaineers Down Towson

Thursday, December 20

Morgantown, W.Va.

7:00 p.m.

West Virginia University

8-2

Towson

5-5

Towson

West Virginia

Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks

December 20, 2018 09:55 PM | Women's Basketball

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By: Ashley Bailey

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Behind a career performance from senior guard Katrina Pardee, the West Virginia University women's basketball team picked up a 90-43 win over Towson at the WVU Coliseum on Thursday evening.

Pardee posted her sixth career 20-point performance, leading the team with a career-high 28 points. She tied her career high in both rebounds and steals with nine and four, respectively.

Freshman forward Kari Niblack also set a new career high with 19 points, and redshirt junior guard Tynice Martin also finished in double figures with 16. Junior guard Lucky Rudd posted a WVU career high of 12 points and dished out five assists in her third game with the Mountaineers.

West Virginia (8-2) shot 46.8 percent from the field and held a 45-31 advantage on the glass. The team also went 30-for-34 at the free-throw line to shoot 88.2 percent.

"I thought we came out and played with energy," coach Mike Carey said. "It was good to see that. (Freshman guard) Madisen (Smith) hurt her tailbone a little bit, so we didn't get to play her (in) the second half. Thank goodness (redshirt junior guard) Tynice (Martin) went down with no issues on that one. We didn't get to play a lot of people (in the) second half, but I thought we did what we needed to do. I thought the first half, we played with a lot of intensity. (We) moved the ball and looked pretty good in the first half."

Pardee started things off with a jumper and later added a 3-pointer as part of a 9-0 run to start the game. She added another jumper, followed by a bucket from Niblack, as the Mountaineers pushed their lead to 13 at 17-4 with 3:28 to play in the first.

Freshman guard Madisen Smith scored back-to-back layups, including on the fast break from Rudd, to take a 21-6 advantage. A jumper by the Tigers cut the lead back to 12 before Pardee added yet another bucket. Senior center Theresa Ekhelar grabbed the rebound off a missed 3-pointer and put it back in, as West Virginia finished the first quarter leading Towson 25-8.

Martin hit a jumper at the start of the second, but the Tigers responded with a 3-pointer to cut their deficit to 16. Rudd hit the free-throw line on two occasions during a 10-0 WVU run that saw the Mountaineers take a 39-11 lead with 5:35 to go in the half.

Both Niblack and Martin went 2-for-2 at the charity stripe to put the WVU advantage at 30 before Towson used a pair of fast-break layups to cut into the lead. However, Pardee and Rudd each added a jumper as West Virginia held a 47-19 lead heading into halftime.

Rudd hit the free-throw line again out of the break, while Niblack and Martin sank jumpers to keep the WVU lead at 30, up 55-25 with 6:23 to go in the third. Pardee hit a fast-break layup off a steal from Davenport to make it a 32-point advantage and followed up with a jumper. Soon after, she hit the free-throw line for a pair to give West Virginia its largest lead of the night at 65-27 with 2:19 left in the quarter.

Freshman forward Jala Jordan added a layup for her first points of the night before Rudd made another trip to the line and came away with a pair of points, as the Mountaineers carried a 42-point advantage into the fourth quarter, leading Towson 69-27.

Martin made a trip to the charity stripe before Niblack hit the line twice, putting West Virginia on top 81-34 with 6:23 to play in regulation. The Tigers headed to the line as well, going 3-for-4 but Pardee countered with a triple as the lead grew to 48 with under five to play.

Niblack headed back to the line again, giving WVU its largest lead of the night at 50 points before Towson scored five straight. Pardee hit a jumper with just over 30 seconds remaining to put her at 28 points on the night as West Virginia rolled to the 90-43 victory.

Towson (5-5) shot 29.6 percent from the field and 9.1 percent from beyond the arc. The Tigers were led by 13 points from Kionna Jeter.

Following the holidays, West Virginia returns to the WVU Coliseum on Dec. 29 in a 2 p.m. tip against Niagara.

Notes: Senior guard Katrina Pardee finished with a career-high 28 points… it marked the sixth 20-point performance of her career… she set a new career high with 11 made field goals as well… Pardee also tied her career highs in rebounds (9) and steals (4)… freshman Kari Niblack set a new career high with 19 points… she sank 11 free throws on the night, becoming the first Mountaineer to make more than 10 free throws since Teana Muldrow did so against St. John's on March 25, 2018… the Mountaineers made 30 free throws, marking their first time scoring 30 or more at the charity stripe since they did so against Duquesne on Dec. 21, 2013 (37).