No. 22 West Virginia Rolls in Season Opener
The No. 22 West Virginia Mountaineers (1-0) cruised to an 86-33 season-opening win over St. Francis (PA) Red Flash (0-3) Tuesday night.
"For the first game, I was pleased," said West Virginia head coach Mike Carey. "I was pleased with our effort. Execution, as we know the first game, you got to get a lot better, but for the first game, I was very pleased with our effort."
The Mountaineer fullcourt pressure defense forced the Red Flash into seven turnovers in the first four minutes of action, opening the game on a 14-0 run.
Guard KK Deans swiped four of her seven steals in the first quarter, with the help of the length of Esmery Martinez at the top of the defense, pressuring the ball and guiding West Virginia to a 27-8 lead at the end of the first quarter and never looked back.
West Virginia guard KK Deans narrowing in on St. Francis guard Lili Benzel in the second quarter of action.
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West Virginia had a significant size advantage in the frontcourt and patiently worked the ball underneath, finishing the night with 52 points in the paint.
"We're strong in the paint with Khari (Niblak) and Esmery (Martinez) and Yemiyah (Morris) and Blessing (Ejiofor)," said Carey. "We need to go in there, and that's going to open the guards. if we go in there and they sag, our posts are very unselfish, and they'll kick it out for wide-open shots."
West Virginia forward Esmery Martinez led all scorers with 19 points and a team-leading seven rebounds, and KK Deans finished with 18 points and seven steals.
The Mountaineer defense never let up, forcing more turnovers (35) than St. Francis produced points (33).
"We got some stuff on to work with that, but overall it was alright," said Deans when asked about the defense.
The West Virginia Mountaineers are back in action Friday, November, 19th as they host Kennesaw State at noon.
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