BECKLEY, W. Va. — Tynice Martin’s return to the West Virginia women’s basketball team was not marked with rose petals on the ground and the sounds of royal trumpets blaring in the background Sunday.
Instead, the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center served as maybe a fitting home for Martin and the Mountaineers, who ran past Radford, 74-37, in front of 2,117 fans.
Over the years, the convention center has had better days. On this one, the shot clocks were inoperable in the first quarter, so the public address announcer was forced to make the announcement when the shot clock was at 10 seconds and then five and then three, two, one.
At other times, a random buzzer would go off in the middle of play, startling many of the players the first time it happened.
It was somehow proper, because in her first game back — after serving a three-month suspension over the summer for a violation of team rules — Martin wasn’t exactly the Tynice Martin of old, either.
“I’m not going to lie, I was winded out there,” she said after scoring six points on two 3-pointers in 19 minutes of action. “It is what it is. As time goes and as many games as we play, it’s going to get better.”
The Mountaineers (3-0) are sure to get better, too, and could possibly soon make a jump into the national rankings now that Martin is back on board.
Still, this was not that March night in 2017, when she poured in 32 to beat Baylor for the Big 12 tournament title.
Once coming into the game with 4:24 left in the first quarter, her first couple of shots fell short, before finally nailing her first 3-pointer just 76 seconds into the second quarter.
“I felt a lot of emotions on that shot,” she admitted later. “My shot was a little off (Saturday) night and then at shoot-around before the game. I think their rims are a little loose, but it felt good to see that first shot go in.”
Martin was reinstated on Nov. 7, but was held out of the first two games in order to help her get her conditioning back in practice.
In the days leading up to the game, WVU head coach Mike Carey said Martin’s intensity was to the point where she was getting too physical in practice.
“Tynice got a little banged up, because she doesn’t know how to go half-speed,” Carey said. “She was sore and I almost didn’t play her today. I asked her, and she said, ‘I’m playing.’ She’ll be the first to tell you her timing was a little bit off with the other players, but we’ll get it.”
The bigger story for the Mountaineers at the moment came from junior guard Kysre Gondrezick, whose 22 points gave her a third straight game with more than 20 to start the season.
“It’s only been three games, so I don’t want to get too excited,” said Gondrezick, whose 22.0 points-per-game average is tied for 25th in the nation. “It’s just a matter of knowing my role on the team and being able to be a play maker and to be able to score from all three attributes.
“With Tynice out, I felt like I had to carry the weight a little bit more. Now that she’s back, I’m excited to be able to be more unselfish and to have her as a threat.”
West Virginia’s defense took care of the rest, as the Highlanders (1-2) were held to just 27.1% (13 of 48) shooting from the field and Radford turned the ball over 21 times.
“I was listening to some announcers the other night talking about how sloppy the offense was, but they were playing hard on defense,” Carey said. “I think that’s true. You start the season preaching defense and coaches probably don’t tweak the offense as much as they should. That’s probably what I did, because I’m a defensive coach. I probably didn’t do as much on offense, as far as timing and execution, as I should have.”
Arleighshya McElroy came off the bench to score 10 points and point guard Madisen Smith added 10 points and five assists.
The Mountaineers will return home to face Coppin State on Thursday, in a game that will tip-off at 10 a.m. as part of Education Day.
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