Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Mountaineer Women Earn 1st NCAA Bid Under Plitzuweit, 14th Overall
March 12, 2023 09:02 PM | Women's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University women's basketball team is dancing in coach Dawn Plitzuweit's first season leading the Mountaineer program.
WVU will face Arizona in a 7-10 matchup in College Park, Maryland, this Friday. The Wildcats are coached by Adia Barnes and finished this season with a 21-9 overall record and in a three-way tie with UCLA and USC for fourth place in the Pac-12 standings.
Arizona fell 73-59 to UCLA on Thursday, March 2, in the Pac-12 women's tournament.
The seventh-seeded Wildcats have a familiar name to West Virginia fans in forward Esmery Martinez, who played for coach Mike Carey at WVU last year. Martinez started all 30 games for Arizona and averaged 10.5 points, with a team-best 8.3 rebounds per game.
Shaina Pellington, a 5-foot-8 senior guard who previously played at Oklahoma, leads the Wildcats with an average of 13.3 points per game. Cate Reese, a 6-foot-2 senior forward, averages 12.6 points while Jade Loville, a 5-foot-11 Arizona State transfer, is averaging 10.2 points per contest.
Arizona heads to College Park on a three-game losing streak with losses to Oregon, Oregon State and UCLA.
West Virginia, meanwhile, put together a strong regular season finish by winning its last three games against Kansas State, Oklahoma State and Baylor before falling to Oklahoma State in dramatic fashion in the Big 12 quarterfinals in Kansas City last Friday afternoon.
The Mountaineers (19-11) led OSU until the Cowgirls' final offensive possession when Terryn Milton scored the winning basket with 0.1 seconds left. WVU led Oklahoma State 53-42 after three quarters.
Plitzuweit, who led South Dakota to a Sweet 16 appearance last season, becomes the first coach in WVU history to guide the Mountaineer women to the NCAA Tournament in her first season.
"The opportunity to continue playing in the NCAA Tournament is incredibly special," she said. "I am so very proud of our young ladies and our staff for how hard they have worked all season. We are also excited for Mountaineer Nation and hope to see a lot of our fans on Friday as we take on Arizona."
Plitzuweit led South Dakota to NCAA Tournament appearances in 2019, 2021 and 2022.
It's West Virginia's 14th overall bid since 1989, and its sixth since joining the Big 12 Conference in 2013.
The 10-seed for WVU is in line with what CBS Sports Bracketologist Connor Groel has been putting out all week and in variance to ESPN.com Charlie Creme's bracket. Creme's final bracket posted at 4:15 p.m. this afternoon had West Virginia as the first team out of the tournament.
But the Mountaineers' 10-8 mark in a strong Big 12 Conference that boasted nine teams with winning records, and a double round-robin playing format, clearly made a big impression on the selection committee.
West Virginia had six wins over Top 50 NET teams this year, including a non-conference victory against Georgia and a season sweep of Baylor. WVU also had a home win against Big 12 Tournament champion Iowa State.
Six Big 12 teams got into this year's tournament: Iowa State, Texas, Oklahoma, Baylor, Oklahoma State and West Virginia.
The West Virginia-Arizona winner will face the Maryland-Holy Cross winner next Sunday.
Tip time, TV and ticket information for the women's tournament will be released later this evening.
Earlier today, the West Virginia men got into the NCAA Tournament as a 9-seed and will play Maryland in Birmingham. The two programs last made NCAA appearances together in 2021.
WVU will face Arizona in a 7-10 matchup in College Park, Maryland, this Friday. The Wildcats are coached by Adia Barnes and finished this season with a 21-9 overall record and in a three-way tie with UCLA and USC for fourth place in the Pac-12 standings.
Arizona fell 73-59 to UCLA on Thursday, March 2, in the Pac-12 women's tournament.
The seventh-seeded Wildcats have a familiar name to West Virginia fans in forward Esmery Martinez, who played for coach Mike Carey at WVU last year. Martinez started all 30 games for Arizona and averaged 10.5 points, with a team-best 8.3 rebounds per game.
Shaina Pellington, a 5-foot-8 senior guard who previously played at Oklahoma, leads the Wildcats with an average of 13.3 points per game. Cate Reese, a 6-foot-2 senior forward, averages 12.6 points while Jade Loville, a 5-foot-11 Arizona State transfer, is averaging 10.2 points per contest.
Arizona heads to College Park on a three-game losing streak with losses to Oregon, Oregon State and UCLA.
West Virginia, meanwhile, put together a strong regular season finish by winning its last three games against Kansas State, Oklahoma State and Baylor before falling to Oklahoma State in dramatic fashion in the Big 12 quarterfinals in Kansas City last Friday afternoon.
The Mountaineers (19-11) led OSU until the Cowgirls' final offensive possession when Terryn Milton scored the winning basket with 0.1 seconds left. WVU led Oklahoma State 53-42 after three quarters.
Plitzuweit, who led South Dakota to a Sweet 16 appearance last season, becomes the first coach in WVU history to guide the Mountaineer women to the NCAA Tournament in her first season.
"The opportunity to continue playing in the NCAA Tournament is incredibly special," she said. "I am so very proud of our young ladies and our staff for how hard they have worked all season. We are also excited for Mountaineer Nation and hope to see a lot of our fans on Friday as we take on Arizona."
Plitzuweit led South Dakota to NCAA Tournament appearances in 2019, 2021 and 2022.
It's West Virginia's 14th overall bid since 1989, and its sixth since joining the Big 12 Conference in 2013.
The 10-seed for WVU is in line with what CBS Sports Bracketologist Connor Groel has been putting out all week and in variance to ESPN.com Charlie Creme's bracket. Creme's final bracket posted at 4:15 p.m. this afternoon had West Virginia as the first team out of the tournament.
But the Mountaineers' 10-8 mark in a strong Big 12 Conference that boasted nine teams with winning records, and a double round-robin playing format, clearly made a big impression on the selection committee.
West Virginia had six wins over Top 50 NET teams this year, including a non-conference victory against Georgia and a season sweep of Baylor. WVU also had a home win against Big 12 Tournament champion Iowa State.
Six Big 12 teams got into this year's tournament: Iowa State, Texas, Oklahoma, Baylor, Oklahoma State and West Virginia.
The West Virginia-Arizona winner will face the Maryland-Holy Cross winner next Sunday.
Tip time, TV and ticket information for the women's tournament will be released later this evening.
Earlier today, the West Virginia men got into the NCAA Tournament as a 9-seed and will play Maryland in Birmingham. The two programs last made NCAA appearances together in 2021.
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