MORGANTOWN — In the span of less than 24 hours, the West Virginia women’s basketball team went from being an automatic qualifier in the WNIT to sitting it out.
WVU athletic director Shane Lyons announced Monday the team had declined an invitation to the postseason tournament, citing injuries and roster availability.
“While we appreciate the invitation for our women’s basketball team to participate in the 2022 WNIT, we have made the difficult decision to decline the invite this year,” Lyons said. “Team injuries, along with student-athletes set to enter the transfer portal, have limited our roster availability, and we would not be able to provide a competitive or positive experience for our student-athletes.”
The Mountaineers (15-15) earned the automatic bid Sunday as being the highest team in the Big 12 standings with a .500 or better record not selected for the NCAA tournament. After declining the invite, Wake Forest was substituted to play Akron in the first round.
As for players transferring, sophomore Jeanna Cunningham officially entered the portal Monday, joining former teammate Jasmine Carson, who entered the portal in January.
In two seasons, Cunnigham, a 6-foot-4 center from Brentwood, N.Y., played in just 13 games and scored a total of four points.
It is not known if more players are expecting to enter the portal.
As for injuries, leading scorer KK Deans missed the final 12 games of the season with a torn ACL, starting forward Kari Niblack did not play the final game of the season with an undisclosed injury and guard Jayla Hemingway was playing on a badly injured ankle the last three weeks of the season.
The Mountaineers began the season with 15 scholarship players and ended it with 14.
WVU head coach Mike Carey made the decision to redshirt freshmen Wynter Rogers and Messiah Hunter, as well as sophomore Isis Beh, a junior-college transfer.
Eliminating those players, WVU appears to be down to seven healthy and available players, not exactly a strong rotation for a postseason tournament.
In declining the WNIT bid, it’s the first time since 2006 — not counting the 2020 COVID cancelations — the Mountaineers have not played in a postseason tournament.
In Carey’s 21 seasons as head coach, WVU has played in a postseason tournament 17 times.
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