MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The West Virginia men’s basketball team proudly accepted the “Press Virginia” moniker during the days of Jevon Carter, but the women’s team slapped the tag on itself Wednesday night against Kansas State.
A 21-0 run in the final 4 1/2 minutes pushed the Mountaineers to a 65-56 win over the Wildcats at the WVU Coliseum, their sixth straight win. The dominant run at the end was thanks in large part to the full-court pressure on the defensive end for WVU — the Mountaineers forced turnover after turnover, which led to easy baskets under the rim.
Moving to the press was a necessity, according to head coach Mike Carey. Kansas State’s game plan coming in was to slow it down as much as possible, using the entire shot clock before putting up a shot.
“Overall, I thought our press was really good,” Carey said. “That’s what we had to do. If we didn’t do that, we were going to get beat … we were going to get beat by double figures. We couldn’t just let them come down and start holding the ball because we weren’t scoring on the other end, so once we started pressing, we got some steals and started getting layups.”
WVU (11-2, 5-2 Big 12) shot just 38% from the field, and as a side effect, couldn’t set up the press as often as it wanted to. But when the shots did fall, the Mountaineers were able to set up separate successful runs thanks to the press. The first came in the third quarter — a 9-0 run to pull within one point at 34-33, but the Wildcats (5-5, 0-3) were able to build the lead back into double figures.
That’s when the second run began, ending in the 21-0 stretch — KSU did not score in the final 4:36.
Total, WVU forced 29 turnovers.
“It was all guts and heart,” said forward Kari Niblack, who had a career-high 23 points to lead the team. “My girls wanted it and we got it.”
Kysre Gondrezick, who missed the last game, returned to score 22 points. Gondrezick, Niblack and point guard Madisen Smith each played all 40 minutes, while Esmery Martinez played 32.
Guard Kirsten “KK” Deans did not play due to an illness (not COVID-19 related) and guard Jayla Hemingway had to leave the game in the fourth quarter after suffering an apparent left leg injury.
KSU hadn’t played a game since Dec. 21 due to a COVID-19 outbreak on the team, which forced five postponements, including the game against the Mountaineers in Manhattan, Kan. Ayoka Lee led the Wildcats with 16 points, while Christinna Carr added 15.
Head coach Jeff Mittie was ejected with 12 seconds remaining following a double technical, arguing about an out-of-bounds call that went in WVU’s favor.
With a week off, the Mountaineers will hit the road for the first time in four games, traveling to Lubbock, Texas, to take on Texas Tech next Wednesday. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
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