MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Winners of seven in a row, including Wednesday night’s 73-53 win at Texas Tech, many wouldn’t guess the West Virginia women’s basketball team is short-handed and had been for the last two weeks.
The Mountaineers (12-2, 6-2 Big 12) were without Kirsten “KK” Deans, who is out with an illness, as well as Jayla Hemingway, limiting the backcourt and forcing Madisen Smith and Kysre Gondrezick to play all 40 minutes against the Red Raiders.
With limited personnel, coach Mike Carey noticed Texas Tech (8-8, 3-7) won some of the hustle stats, such as second-chance points, but he attributed it to several players being on the court too much out of necessity.
“People are playing too many minutes who aren’t used to playing as many minutes,” he said. “Hopefully, we can get a rotation down, and Jayla being out hurts as much as KK.
“We’ll get a rotation down, but give our girls a lot of credit.”
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The Mountaineers were also limited in the post — sophomore center Rochelle Norris entered the transfer portal this week after playing in all but one game prior to Wednesday night. She was averaging 13 1/2 minutes per game, as well as 3.2 points and 3.5 rebounds.
Without Dean, Carey went with a bigger starting lineup, plugging Blessing Ejiofor at center and moving Kari Niblack and Esmery Martinez into the forward spots. Without Norris, Ejiofor will get more minutes and she made the most out of her start, finishing with six points and 10 rebounds.
“Blessing was very active, especially in the first half,” Carey said. “Kari got in foul trouble, Esmery got in foul trouble, but we need to get Ariel (Cummings) going a little bit. I tried to get her in there (at the end), but she needs to get going. She got two offensive rebounds and is that big body that can jump pretty well, so we need to get her going.”
It was another balanced scoring effort for WVU — Gondrezick led the way with 24 points, while Martinez had 16 points. Niblack and Jasmine Carson each finished with 10.
Martinez, known for her rebounding, was able to step out and make several midrange jump shots from the elbow. Carey said she and Niblack have worked on knocking down jumpers.
“We worked on that this summer when we could practice,” he said. “I send her and Kari down with the guards a lot when they do shooting and that type of stuff. She’s just got to get confidence in it. You’re going to miss some and you’re going to make some, so she’s got to take that open shot.”
The Red Raiders were led by 18 points from Vivian Gray and 10 from Lexi Gordon. The Mountaineers swept the regular-season series — they won 83-78 on Jan. 13 at the WVU Coliseum.
WVU will remain in Texas for the rest of the week and will face TCU at 2 p.m. Saturday in Fort Worth. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
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