MORGANTOWN — Madisen Smith was at full speed dribbling down the middle of the court Sunday, not exactly the time many would want to put themselves in harm’s way by trying to draw an offensive foul.
Texas freshman Rori Harmon didn’t think twice about it.
“In the moment, you don’t really think about, “Oh, this is going to hurt,’ ” Harmon said after scoring 19 points, while adding eight rebounds and seven assists in the Longhorns’ 67-58 victory at the WVU Coliseum. “You kind of just do it, get up and brush it off.”
No. 14 Texas (19-6, 9-5 Big 12) held off a fourth-quarter rally and brushed off a Mountaineers team that dropped its fourth consecutive game.
The Longhorns did it with physical play that was applauded by WVU head coach Mike Carey, who has spent his 21 seasons in Morgantown building the same attributes into his program.
“I love the way they play,” Carey said of Texas. “I would love to play that way, too. I have no problem with it. When people push and shove, push and shove back and get aggressive. Get them off of you. I love the way they play.”
Bodies were hitting the Coliseum floor like sides of beef being thrown into the back of a delivery truck, and it was costly for the Mountaineers (11-13, 4-10).
Senior forward Kari Niblack took a shoulder to the face while trying to defend Texas forward Lauren Ebo with 7:24 remaining in the second quarter.
Niblack went down and had to be helped to her feet while keeping pressure on a bleeding lip.
She was helped back to the locker room and later returned for the final minutes of the first half, but did not play in the second half, as her symptoms for a concussion worsened.
“It got worse at halftime and she’s got a concussion,” Carey said. “She’s got a concussion, which means she’s going to have to sit out the next game.”
Niblack was off to a good start, with eight of her nine points coming in the first quarter. She also added four rebounds and a blocked shot before the injury.
Against Texas’ pressure defense, it was Niblack and Esmery Martinez who kept WVU in the game early.
They scored the Mountaineers first 16 points, and it wasn’t until Smith hit two free throws after Ebo’s play was ruled an intentional foul that someone else got into the action.
Eventually Texas’ pressure and physical style wore down the Mountaineers, who are quickly running out of options with Niblack hurt and leading scorer K.K. Deans done for the season with a torn ACL.
“It’s who we are and what we do and it’s how we play the game,” Texas head coach Vic Schaefer said. “It starts with Rori at the point. When she’s got a lot of energy at the point, everybody behind her plays pretty hard. When you do it for 40 minutes, it probably does wear on people.”
Texas scored 44 points in the paint and had a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter, before WVU made one final push.
The Mountaineers got as close as 56-51 when Martinez hit a jumper from the foul line with 5:16 remaining, but the Longhorns scored on their next three possessions to seal the outcome.
With the loss, WVU assured itself of a losing season in Big 12 play for the fifth time in 10 seasons in the conference and must win three of its final four games just to assure itself of a non-losing season. WVU hasn’t had a losing season since 2006, Carey’s fifth season with the Mountaineers.
Martinez finished with 13 points and six rebounds for WVU and Smith chipped in 10 points and five assists.
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