WVU Caps Season with Loss to Virginia Tech

Wednesday, March 28

Morgantown, W.Va.

7 p.m.

West Virginia University

25-12

Virginia Tech

23-13

Virginia Tech

West Virginia

Photo by: Brian Persinger

March 28, 2018 09:58 PM | Women's Basketball

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By: Chris Pharis

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Despite a strong second half and a stellar performance by the senior class, the West Virginia women's basketball team fell to Virginia Tech 64-61, in the semifinal round of the WNIT at the WVU Coliseum on Wednesday.

"I give Virginia Tech credit," said coach Mike Carey. "They played hard. We came out flat the first half. We had good looks the first half, we just couldn't hit any shots. I thought the second half, especially the third quarter, we came out and played a lot better."

Senior forward Teana Muldrow had 20 points and added six blocks and two steals to her stat line, senior guard Chania Ray dished out nine assists and had nine points and senior forward Kristina King led the Mountaineers with 12 boards and chipped in seven points as the trio took the court for the final time in Gold and Blue.

Noami Davenport also scored in double-figures with a 16-point performance. WVU (25-12) also scored 14 points off of turnovers to Virginia Tech's nine and grabbed 14 offensive rebounds while VT recorded 11.

King started the game fast, scoring four of WVU's first eight points in the opening minutes. Freshman guard Ashley Jones and Muldrow also added a layup apiece as WVU led 8-7 at the media timeout. Out of the media timeout, junior guard Katrina Pardee drained a jumper from just inside the 3-point arc to push the Mountaineer lead to three with 4:23 to go in the opening quarter. However, the Hokies would then go on an 8-0 run to make the score 15-10, before another King layup brought the Mountaineers to within two. Virginia Tech added two layups to close the first quarter with a 19-12 lead.

Pardee knocked down a pair of shots from the charity stripe to open the scoring in the second quarter for West Virginia and cut the VT lead to 21-14. After the free throws, the Mountaineers fell cold, going scoreless for the next 3:02, until Muldrow ended the drought with a layup to make the score 24-16 with 6:37 to play. Following a Hokie trey, WVU scored the next five points to cut the lead to 27-21 with just over four minutes remaining in the half. West Virginia's shooting woes continued until Muldrow hit another jumper from behind the free throw line and Jones added a layup as Virginia Tech held the 33-25 lead at the half.

The Mountaineers came out of the break on fire, hitting four of their first five shots, including the WVU's first two 3-pointers of the night, to cut the lead to 38-35. Ray added the third trey of the quarter to tie the game at 40 with 6:00 to go in the quarter. The two squads traded a pair of buckets until the Hokies hit a shot from downtown to take a 48-44 lead with 54 seconds to play. Davenport would then knock down one of the two from the free throw line as VT led 48-45 heading into the final quarter.

After a quarter-opening bucket by the Hokies, Pardee drained her first trey of the game from the right wing to cut the lead to two points. The two teams then traded buckets, until a Davenport layup tied the match at 56 with 3:11 to play. Muldrow put the Mountaineers ahead for the first time since the 4:23 mark in the first quarter. After a missed 3 by VT, Davenport hit a jumper from behind the free throw line, giving WVU an 8-0 run and putting them up 60-56 with 1:49 to play. After a VT layup, Davenport hit it one-of-two from the free throw line to give WVU the 61-60 advantage. After the free throws, Tech's Emery hit a 3-pointer to put the Hokies up 63-61 with 22 seconds to play. Following a WVU timeout, Davenport missed a jumper forcing the Mountaineers to foul. On the free throw line, VT's Aisha Sheppard hit a foul shot, making the score 64-61. WVU got the ball back with two seconds remaining, but Muldrow's 3-pointer fell short as Virginia Tech took the 64-61 decision.