Saturday, March 3
Oklahoma City, Okla.
9:30 p.m.
West Virginia University
21-10, 8-10 (6)
69
vs
60
Oklahoma State
20-10, 11-7 (3)
1
2
3
4
F
West Virginia
21
21
17
10
69
Oklahoma State
11
19
16
14
60
Photo by: Big 12 Conference
WVU Downs OSU, Advances to Big 12 Semis
March 04, 2018 12:19 AM | Women's Basketball
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – The West Virginia University women's basketball team opened its defense of the Big 12 Tournament title with a 69-60 victory over No. 3-seeded Oklahoma State at the 2018 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship, at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on Saturday night.
The No. 6 seed Mountaineers never trailed in the quarterfinal matchup as four players finished in double figures. Junior guard/forward Naomi Davenport paced WVU with a game-high 21 points and nine rebounds, helping push West Virginia to Sunday's semifinal round.
"Give our players credit," WVU coach Mike Carey said. "We got tired at the end, started turning it over. Overall, we executed our game plan and got a little sloppy, but I think that was mostly because we got tired. We had some people come off the bench and give us some great minutes today and that really helped us."
The Mountaineers (21-10) hit three 3-pointers in the opening frame, including a triple by Davenport inside the first minute of the contest. That gave WVU an early 5-2 lead before senior forward Teana Muldrow went up and under the rim for another score on the team's next offensive possession.
Later, senior guard Chania Ray and junior guard Katrina Pardee made back-to-back 3s to push WVU's advantage to 13-4 with 6:35 to go in the opening period. WVU made five of its first six shots from the field, including 3 of its first 4 from behind the 3-point line.
Oklahoma State (20-10), meanwhile, struggled offensively out of the gate, starting just 2 of 9 as a team. The Cowgirls finished 5 of 17 in the opening period as the Mountaineers were able to build a 10-point cushion at 21-11 after 10 minutes.
WVU picked up right where it left off offensively at the start of the second quarter, as Pardee got a 3 to go to make it 26-14. From there, Davenport went to work, scoring nine second-quarter points to pace WVU for the remainder of the half.
First, the Cincinnati, Ohio, native got a baseline jumper to fall before freshman guard Ashley Jones hit a 3, bumping the lead to 37-22 – WVU's largest of the first half. From there, Davenport drilled another 3-pointer with under two minutes to go in the half, giving the Mountaineers a 40-28 lead.
Davenport finished with 16 points in the first half to lead all scorers as West Virginia led, 42-30, at the break.
In the second half, WVU received some additional scoring aid off the bench as redshirt junior Theresa Ekhelar registered a three-point-play with 6:22 to go in the third quarter, allowing WVU to take a 47-34 lead. Then, after OSU cut the Mountaineers' lead to single digits, Davenport scored on a dribble-dive to the rim, before senior forward Kristina King tallied a steal-and-score to make it 54-42.
From there, Pardee notched a three-point-play of her own, pushing WVU's advantage to 57-44 with 1:54 to go in the frame. WVU led, 59-46, entering the fourth quarter.
Pardee and King helped get the Mountaineers to the finish line, as the two combined to score eight of WVU's 10 fourth-quarter points. The Cowgirls cut WVU's lead to nine on multiple occasions in the fourth but couldn't draw any closer.
Along with Davenport, Pardee finished with 15 points and eight rebounds for West Virginia, while King added 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Muldrow finished with 10 points and five rebounds. The Mountaineers finished 27 of 57 (47.4%) from the field, while Oklahoma State shot just 22 of 58 (37.9%). Kaylee Jensen led the Cowgirls with 20 points.
WVU outrebounded OSU, 39-28, and held advantages in bench points, points in the paint and steals in the contest.
With the win, the Mountaineers advance to take on No. 2 seed Texas in the tournament semifinals on Sunday. Tipoff is set for 4:30 p.m. EST in Oklahoma City.
The No. 6 seed Mountaineers never trailed in the quarterfinal matchup as four players finished in double figures. Junior guard/forward Naomi Davenport paced WVU with a game-high 21 points and nine rebounds, helping push West Virginia to Sunday's semifinal round.
"Give our players credit," WVU coach Mike Carey said. "We got tired at the end, started turning it over. Overall, we executed our game plan and got a little sloppy, but I think that was mostly because we got tired. We had some people come off the bench and give us some great minutes today and that really helped us."
The Mountaineers (21-10) hit three 3-pointers in the opening frame, including a triple by Davenport inside the first minute of the contest. That gave WVU an early 5-2 lead before senior forward Teana Muldrow went up and under the rim for another score on the team's next offensive possession.
Later, senior guard Chania Ray and junior guard Katrina Pardee made back-to-back 3s to push WVU's advantage to 13-4 with 6:35 to go in the opening period. WVU made five of its first six shots from the field, including 3 of its first 4 from behind the 3-point line.
Oklahoma State (20-10), meanwhile, struggled offensively out of the gate, starting just 2 of 9 as a team. The Cowgirls finished 5 of 17 in the opening period as the Mountaineers were able to build a 10-point cushion at 21-11 after 10 minutes.
WVU picked up right where it left off offensively at the start of the second quarter, as Pardee got a 3 to go to make it 26-14. From there, Davenport went to work, scoring nine second-quarter points to pace WVU for the remainder of the half.
First, the Cincinnati, Ohio, native got a baseline jumper to fall before freshman guard Ashley Jones hit a 3, bumping the lead to 37-22 – WVU's largest of the first half. From there, Davenport drilled another 3-pointer with under two minutes to go in the half, giving the Mountaineers a 40-28 lead.
Davenport finished with 16 points in the first half to lead all scorers as West Virginia led, 42-30, at the break.
In the second half, WVU received some additional scoring aid off the bench as redshirt junior Theresa Ekhelar registered a three-point-play with 6:22 to go in the third quarter, allowing WVU to take a 47-34 lead. Then, after OSU cut the Mountaineers' lead to single digits, Davenport scored on a dribble-dive to the rim, before senior forward Kristina King tallied a steal-and-score to make it 54-42.
From there, Pardee notched a three-point-play of her own, pushing WVU's advantage to 57-44 with 1:54 to go in the frame. WVU led, 59-46, entering the fourth quarter.
Pardee and King helped get the Mountaineers to the finish line, as the two combined to score eight of WVU's 10 fourth-quarter points. The Cowgirls cut WVU's lead to nine on multiple occasions in the fourth but couldn't draw any closer.
Along with Davenport, Pardee finished with 15 points and eight rebounds for West Virginia, while King added 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Muldrow finished with 10 points and five rebounds. The Mountaineers finished 27 of 57 (47.4%) from the field, while Oklahoma State shot just 22 of 58 (37.9%). Kaylee Jensen led the Cowgirls with 20 points.
WVU outrebounded OSU, 39-28, and held advantages in bench points, points in the paint and steals in the contest.
With the win, the Mountaineers advance to take on No. 2 seed Texas in the tournament semifinals on Sunday. Tipoff is set for 4:30 p.m. EST in Oklahoma City.
Team Stats
WVU
OSU
FG%
.474
.379
3FG%
.316
.375
FT%
.643
.833
RB
39
28
TO
16
13
STL
9
7
Game Leaders
Pts
21
FGM
7
3FGM
2
FTM
5
Pts
15
FGM
5
3FGM
2
FTM
3
Pts
12
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
10
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G/F
/ Women's Basketball
C
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's Basketball
G
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