Miles Sitachitta - Sports Illustrated: Mountaineer Maven
West Virginia Blanks from Three in Loss to Texas
The West Virginia women’s basketball team dropped their second meeting with Texas on the year after falling, 50-44, on Monday night.
The Longhorns began the night on a 5-0 run behind a Charli Collier three and layup through the opening two minutes of action. Audrey Warren then extended the Texas lead to 11 points seven minutes into the quarter after a layup made it a 13-2 ballgame.
Kari Niblack hit a jumper as well as a layup for the Mountaineers, but Collier continued to pace the Longhorns with a pair of free throws to keep the Texas lead at 11-points heading into the second.
West Virginia jumped out to a 6-2 run through the opening minutes of the second quarter as Tynice Martin hit a jumper and a layup while Kari Niblack hit a jumper as well to bring the deficit to seven points, 16-23.
Niblack then hit another jumper in the final two minutes of the first half to keep the deficit at seven points heading into the locker room.
The third quarter saw Texas come out strong again while getting out to a 9-2 lead through the quarter after a Jada Underwood three as well as a Joyner Holmes layup to give the Longhorns a 34-19 lead four minutes into the quarter.
Niblack then sparked a run for the Mountaineers which saw West Virginia score 12 points through the remainder of the quarter behind a trio of Kirsten Deans layups as well as a Tynice Martin jumper.
The Mountaineer run continued into the fourth quarter as Niblack, Esmery Martinez and Madisen Smith each dribbled in for layups to bring West Virginia within five points.
Martin then hit another jumper before Niblack went in for a layup to bring the deficit to three points. Holmes and Lashann Higgs then notched layups to extend the Longhorn lead and knotch the 50-44 Texas victory.
The spot where the Mountaineers went most cold on the night was from beyond the three-point arc where they missed all 15 attempts. The Longhorns went 2-8 in three-point shooting on the night.
Niblack led West Virginia in scoring on the night after notching 16 points and was the only Mountaineer to score in double digits.
The Mountaineers will be back in action on Saturday when they host the Kansas Jayhawks at 5 p.m. inside the Coliseum.