MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Esmery Martinez raced down the court, surely on her way to a driving lay-up.
Except the shot landed to the right side of the rim and Martinez, in disbelief, could barely summon the energy to race back up the court to play defense.
That early fourth-quarter play was all you needed to know about West Virginia’s 73-56 loss against Georgia Tech on Tuesday in the second round of the NCAA tournament at the UTSA Convocation Center in San Antonio.
Outside of the opening minutes of the game, the Yellow Jackets dominated, as the Mountaineers (22-7) were denied a bid at the Sweet 16.
It began with Georgia Tech’s shooting, where the Yellow Jackets hit 29 of 56 (51.8%) from the floor and outscored WVU in the paint, 32-24.
Yellow Jackets guard Lotta-Maj Lahtinen led the way with 22 points and teammate Lorela Cubaj added a double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds.
“We just didn’t play as a team,” WVU head coach Mike Carey said. “I think what caught up to us was we didn’t execute. That’s what caught up to us.”
It then spread to Georgia Tech’s defense and rebounding.
Was that ever impressive.
Georgia Tech won the battle on the boards, 36-22, and held WVU’s leading scorer, Kysre Gondrezick to just three points on 1 of 6 shooting in what will likely be her final college game.
Gondrezick did not attempt a shot in the second half.
“They took her scoring away and sometimes it gets in your head that I’m not scoring and you start to get frustrated,” said WVU guard KK Deans, who finished with 11 points and five assists. “That can affect everybody and it did affect us.”
Georgia Tech (17-8) trailed, 15-6, early, but finished the first quarter on a 9-2 run.
That was the first sign that this was not going to be the Mountaineers’ night.
By the end of the third quarter, it was all but over. Georgia Tech held the Mountaineers to just nine points in the third and led, 58-41, heading into the final quarter.
“We played well in the beginning, but then we started taking some bad shots, quit playing defense, quit rebounding and started fouling,” Carey said. “From that point on, we were in trouble.”
This was West Virginia’s first NCAA tournament appearance since 2017 and WVU was coming off a runner-up finish in the Big 12 tournament.
A strong second half led WVU past Lehigh in the first round, but there was no push in the final minutes this time.
Georgia Tech will play in its first Sweet 16 since 2012 and led by as many as 21 in the fourth quarter.
Martinez led the Mountaineers with 13 points and nine rebounds and Kari Niblack added 12 points.
But, WVU was held to just nine baskets in the second half and turned the ball over 15 times.
“I thought we showed some heart, but not the heart we had all year,” Deans said. “Georgia Tech just went out there and played harder than us. That’s the bottom line.
“Shots we normally hit, we didn’t hit tonight. I air-balled three shots and I don’t do that normally. It just wasn’t our night.”
Note
** WVU point guard Madisen Smith played four minutes in the first half, but did not score.
Smith had missed the previous eight games with a hamstring injury.
“I tried Madisen in the first half, but we weren’t playing well and people weren’t moving the ball and I wasn’t going to take the chance of her getting hurt,” Carey said. “She worked hard to get ready for this game, but I wasn’t willing to take a chance on her, so I just shut her down.”
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