MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Mike Carey will take what may be the final first step Sunday in getting the West Virginia’s women’s basketball team up to par.
Senior guard Tynice Martin will make her season debut, when the Mountaineers (2-0) host Radford (1-1) at 2 p.m. at the Beckley Raleigh County Convention Center.
Martin is coming off a suspension for a violation of team rules. She pleaded no contest earlier this month to a battery charge.
That suspension kept her from playing this summer during the team’s exhibitions games in Italy and Greece and also kept her out of the Mountaineers’ preseason practices.
“Her quickness is very good and her conditioning is not bad,” Carey said of Martin. “Timing is a bit off. Any time you sit out three months, your timing is going to be off. She’s been getting extra shots up, so we’re very pleased with that.”
Martin’s return is just one more adjustment the Mountaineers will have to make, but it will also likely add an offensive boost to a team that is last in the Big 12 in scoring at 65 points per game.
She was the team’s leading scorer last season at 18.0 points per game and could become the school’s all-time leading scorer by the end of the season.
“Even on our quick hitters, you have people moving to different positions, because of her,” Carey said. “What coach is not going to run some quick hitter for her? It’s just that timing with the other players and her own timing. She’ll get it. She’s a great athlete and knows the game. There’s no doubt in my mind that she’ll get it quickly.”
Carey has his eyes on some other improvements, too, beginning with sophomore forward Kari Niblack, who has had her play limited due to foul trouble She has nine fouls through two games and her scoring and rebounding averages are both down from her freshman season, when she was named the Big 12’s Sixth Man Award winner.
“Both games, she was in foul trouble early,” Carey said. “We want to rotate her between power forward and center and we’re going to look at other combinations, but she has to stay on the floor for us to do that.
“She’s a double-double player if she’s playing. There’s no doubt in my mind about that.”
Point guard Madisen Smith is shooting just 28.6% from the floor and prized freshman recruit Esmery Martinez is still learning the system after getting medically cleared for contact a week before the season began. She is coming off a knee injury during her senior season of high school.
“Especially with our guards right now, we’re trying to find the right rotation,” Carey said. “Even in the paint, we’re trying to find the right rotations. We have 10 people who can play and it’s my job to see what the best situation is to put them in.”
The game marks the 31st consecutive season the women’s team has played a regular-season game at a neutral site within the state. WVU also has a game scheduled in Charleston this season, against Norfolk State, on Dec. 15.
“I enjoy going to different parts of the state and getting our girls some recognition,” Carey said. “A lot of people in Beckley or Charleston are not going to travel to Morgantown for a women’s game. If we play there, hopefully they’ll come watch us play.”
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