WVU’s Martinez Pulling Down Rebounds at Near-Record Rate

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – When you talk about West Virginia rebounders, the late Olivia Bradley is the gold standard for the Mountaineers.

The Bradenton, Florida, native hauled down more rebounds (1,484) than anyone else – by far!

The WVU Sports Hall of Famer once had a stretch during her junior season in 1984 when she grabbed 10 or more rebounds in 18 straight games. She secured 20 or more rebounds 11 times, and posted 84 career games with double-digit boards.

Her 15.3 rebounding average during her senior season in 1985 is off-the-charts good.

Only two others in school history even come close to Bradley in rebounding – Georgeann Wells and Donna Abbott – and each played more than 25 years ago.

That is until now.

Sophomore forward Esmery Martinez is grabbing rebounds this year at a Bradley-like rate.

She had 15 in the season opener against Fresno State and a season-high 22 a week later in a home win against North Alabama. Against James Madison, she pulled down 21 and she's continued her impressive rebounding against much bigger players once West Virginia started Big 12 play.

She had 11 boards in the Oklahoma win, 10 last Saturday against Texas and 15 in last night's 83-78 triumph against Texas Tech.

Her last six games have been an exhibition in consistency. Just look at these numbers:

* 11 points and 21 rebounds against James Madison
* 16 points and 10 rebounds against Oklahoma State
* 16 points and 15 rebounds against Ohio
* 18 points and 11 rebounds against Oklahoma
* 19 points and 10 rebounds against Texas
* 18 points and 15 rebounds against Texas Tech

That averages out to 16.3 points and 13.7 rebounds over those six games. Heading into this week's action, the Dominican Republic native was just a half-rebound away from leading the country in that category.

Lafayette's Natalie Kucowski entered this week tops in the nation with an average of 13.8 rebounds per game, while Martinez was No. 2 at 13.3.

Now Esmery's total is up to 13.5 following last night's performance.

In his 20 seasons at West Virginia, Mike Carey has never had a rebounder quite like Martinez. Lanay Montgomery was his best, pulling down an average of 8.9 boards per game in 2017. Teana Muldrow had back-to-back years averaging 8.5 rebounds per game in 2017-18, while current operations director Ayana Dunning averaged 8.4 rebounds in 2012.

Those were his three best rebounders, until Martinez.

And he thinks she's only just scratching the surface of what she's capable of doing!

In last night's five-point win, he thought her 18 points and 15 rebounds could have been more if his guards weren't so quick to the trigger from the perimeter.

"We weren't patient enough to reverse the ball, move it and swing it," he said. "I apologized to our posts in (the locker room), to be honest with you. These guards weren't patient enough or some of them could have had career nights."

Coming off its magnificent 92-58 win over then-17^th-ranked Texas last Saturday, West Virginia last night could never quite put away the 6-6 Red Raiders.

The Mountaineers' lead would swell to 10 and then an ill-advised 3 or a turnover on the perimeter allowed Tech to score easy points at the other end. This pattern played out the entire game, right up until the end.

"Forty-five seconds left, they have to foul us, and we take a quick shot," Carey said. "That should never happen. We have to work on that."

Looming on Saturday is a rematch against 10-3 Oklahoma State, one of two teams to defeat West Virginia this season.

Back on Dec. 18 in Stillwater, the Mountaineers fought back from a double-digit deficit to have an opportunity to tie the game with 53 seconds left. The Cowgirls held on for a 78-73 win.

If West Virginia (9-2) wants to knock off Oklahoma State and get toward the top of the league standings, Carey said it is going to have to play a lot better than it did on Wednesday night against Texas Tech.

"We were two steps slow," Carey said. "If we're going to be a good team, we can't do things like we did (Wednesday night). We were worrying about getting shots, and we weren't worrying about moving the ball.

"Like I said, the high post was open all night and we were getting stuff in the paint, but our guards would not reverse the ball in order for that to happen," he added.

Getting Martinez even more involved around the basket might be just what the doctor ordered on Saturday.

The two teams will play at 2 p.m. at the WVU Coliseum, and the game will be available on the Big 12 Now on ESPN + streaming service.

Schedule

WVU’s Martinez Pulling Down Rebounds at Near-Record Rate

Players Mentioned

Esmery Martinez

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