MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — It was a mixed bag Wednesday night for the West Virginia women’s basketball team in the Mountaineers’ 83-78 win over Texas Tech at the WVU Coliseum.
The good for WVU was apparent with a dominant performance off the bench, specifically from guard Jasmine Carson and center Rochelle Norris.
Carson finished with 13 points — 10 in the second half and eight in the fourth quarter — in just nine minutes on the court. The pace slowed down significantly in the third quarter and the Red Raiders (6-6, 1-5 Big 12) were able to hang in, but Carson, a junior, provided a spark when the Mountaineers (9-2, 3-2) needed it most.
“As a shooter and as a scorer, I always have confidence in my shot,” she said. “It felt very good to give my team a boost — that’s what my mentality is when I come into the game defensively and offensively, so it felt good to give them a boost.”
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WVU head coach Mike Carey doesn’t mind Carson having a quick trigger, either. A transfer from Georgia Tech, she averaged 9.1 points and scored in double-figures 15 times last season with the Yellow Jackets.
“That’s what she is, she’s a scorer,” he said. “Once she learns our defense … she’s a legit scorer and she scored a lot of points at Georgia Tech. She can make a 3, hit a jumper, she’s very athletic. She just has to learn what we do to get more comfortable.”
Norris came in for Kari Niblack early in the first quarter after Niblack rolled her ankle, though Niblack was able to return a few minutes later. Still, Norris scored the first seven points of the game for the Mountaineers and finished the game with nine, all in the first half. Carey said he thought she got tired late in the game.
Overall, WVU scored 30 points off the bench compared to 16 for Texas Tech.
Carson definitely stepped up off the bench tonight, but other people did, too,” Niblack said. “Jayla (Hemingway) and Rochelle all came off the bench and gave us great minutes.”
Kysre Gondrezick led WVU with 19 points, while Esmery Martinez finished with a double-double with 18 points and 15 rebounds.
Coming off a top-20 dominant win over Texas last Saturday, Carey was worried about a letdown performance against the Red Raiders. Even though his team got the win, Carey was not happy with the performance of his guards and felt the whole team looked tired.
The Mountaineers committed just eight team fouls in the first half, but had 23 in the second, putting the Red Raiders at the free-throw line 25 times in the third and fourth quarters.
“We could never get into the flow of the game,” Carey said. “We hit a couple 3s and then we’d come down, foul, make another 3, commit a turnover, come back down and foul again. We just never got in the flow of the game.
“We were two steps slow today. I was afraid of this, I really was, and if we want to be a good team, we can’t do things like we did tonight. We were worried about getting shots and not worried about moving the ball. We were getting looks in the post all night, but our guards would not reverse the ball for that to happen.”
WVU was supposed to have a week off before its next game against Kansas State at the Coliseum, but Tuesday the Big 12 announced the Oklahoma State game, originally scheduled for Jan. 23, was moved up to Saturday.
Carey said the team will play when it’s told, but already looking tired, a two-day turnaround is not ideal. It will also likely be without Gondrezick, who is expected to attend her father’s funeral later this week. He suddenly passed away recently.
Tipoff against the Cowgirls is slated for 2 p.m. at the Coliseum.
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