WVU Downs Villanova in WNIT

Sunday, March 24

Morgantown, W.Va.

3:00 p.m.

West Virginia University

22-10

Villanova

19-13

Villanova

West Virginia

Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks

March 24, 2019 05:36 PM | Women's Basketball

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By: Ashley Bailey

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University women's basketball team featured three players in double figures as the Mountaineers took down Villanova, 64-57, in the second round of the 2019 Postseason WNIT, on Sunday afternoon, at the WVU Coliseum.

Senior guard/forward Naomi Davenport scored a game-high 25 points and added eight rebounds, while redshirt junior guard Tynice Martin tallied 23 points and nine rebounds to lead the Mountaineers. Freshman forward Kari Niblack also chipped in with 13 points and grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds for her fifth career double-double.

"Kari's a player," coach Mike Carey said following the game. "Kari, like I said, if she can stay out of foul trouble, she's going to put up a double-double up every game. I think she's a double-double machine, I really do. She plays that hard and that aggressively. Today, she stayed out of foul trouble and had another double-double."

The trio combined to score all but three of the Mountaineers' points in the win.

West Virginia was forced to overcome multiple comeback attempts by Villanova, but it buckled in down the stretch to preserve the victory.

Davenport made a jumper just inside the 3-point line nine seconds into the game to put the Mountaineers (22-10) in front. Then, she hit a triple to give WVU an early 6-3 advantage.

Later, a pair of makes by Martin made it 12-5 with 3:23 to play in the opening quarter before another Davenport 3 bumped the lead to double digits for the first time at 15-5.

Villanova (19-13), meanwhile, began the contest just 2-of-10 from the field with five turnovers. However, a quick, 7-0 run by the Wildcats cut the deficit to just 15-12 after 10 minutes.

Niblack and Davenport got the lead back up to 19-12 at the start of the second period. That led to back-to-back layups by Davenport, the second of which coming off a steal-and-score for an easy bucket to make it 25-14 with 7:10 until halftime.

From there, the Mountaineer defense got back to work. WVU held Villanova without a point for more than seven minutes in the period, and it only allowed the Wildcats to shoot 3-of-15 in the frame.

Davenport, who finished with 18 first-half points, led her squad to the locker room after a buzzer beater at the end of the period, helping WVU to a 31-19 halftime lead.

In all, the Mountaineers outscored Villanova, 16-7, in the period.

However, the Wildcats sizzled from the field to begin the second half. Villanova scored 10 of the third period's first 14 points to get within 35-29 of the lead. Martin banked in a long two-pointer to get the Mountaineer lead back to eight, but Villanova kept coming. The visitors went on to make its first eight shots of the second half, cutting it to just 39-38 with 4:29 to play in the third.

But Martin continued to lead WVU, making the team's first four field goals of the period, including a tough layup that made it a 43-38 game around the three-minute mark. From there, Davenport swished a 3 from the top of the key, before junior guard Lucky Rudd's only bucket of the game pushed the advantage back to 10.

WVU closed the period on a 9-0 run, taking a 48-38 lead into the final frame.

Much like the start of the third quarter, the Wildcats began the fourth in a big way. Villanova made three 3's to begin the period, getting it to 50-47 with 8:15 to go in the game. The Wildcats even cut it to one again off a fast-break layup with 5:36 to go.

Then, Martin registered five straight points, including a three-point play to make it 57-51 with four-and-a-half minutes to go. The Atlanta native scored 15 of her 23 points in the second half.

The two teams continued to go back and forth down the stretch. Up five with 51 seconds to go, Niblack cleaned up and offensive rebound and scored on the low block to help the Mountaineers take a 63-56 lead and eventually reach the finish line.

WVU finished 22-of-60 (36.7%) from the field and outrebounded the Wildcats, 41-33. The Mountaineers also held a 17-10 edge in points off turnovers and a 20-14 advantage in points in the paint.

Villanova, which was led by Jannah Tucker's 21 points, shot 23-of-55 (41.8%) as a team. Despite 14 turnovers, the Wildcats made 10 3-pointers in the loss.

Next up, West Virginia advances to the third round of the 2019 Postseason WNIT and will host Northwestern on Wednesday, March 27, at the WVU Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.