No. 6 West Virginia Meets No. 11 Columbia in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament

The Mountaineers face off against the Lions in the opening round of the NCAA tournament

West Virginia University guard Syndey Shaw / Christopher Hall - West Virginia on SI

Chapel Hill, NC – The sixth-seed West Virginia Mountaineers (24-7) begin their quest for a national championship in the first round of the NCAA tournament against the 11th-seed Columbia Lions Saturday afternoon. Tip-off is set for approximately 2:00 p.m. EST and the action will broadcast on ESPNEWS.

West Virginia features one of the best defenses in the country, leading the Power Four conferences in forced turnovers per game (23.7) and steals per game (13.6). Seniors JJ Quinerly and Kyah Watson spearheaded the defense and for their efforts, were selected to the All-Big 12 Defensive Team, with Quinerly taking the honors of Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year.

Quinerly averages a team-high 20.6 points per game. Juniors Jordan Harrison and Sydney Shaw keep the temp, scoring 13.5 ppg and 11.7 ppg, respectively, while Watson leads the team in steals (3.2) and rebound per game (7.5). Harrison also dishes a team-best 4.5 assists per game.

Columbia won the Ivy League regular season title but fell in the conference tournament to Harvard.

The Lions earned their path to the first round with a win over Washington in the play-in game Thursday night.

Columbia led the league in scoring (73.1 ppg) and rebounding (39.6) while holding opponents to 58.6 ppg.

Guard Riley Weiss leads the Lions in scoring, averaging 18.0 ppg, which ranked second in the Ivy Leage. The sophomore has hit 92 threes on the year.

Seniors Cecelia Collins (13.7) and Kitty Henderson (13.3) keep pace on the scoreboard while averaging 4.6 and 4.9 assists per game, respectively, while junior guard/forward Perri Page is 6.3 rebounds per game and Henderson is not far behind at 6.1 rpg.

West Virginia took the only meeting between the two programs in a midseason tournament, FAU Holiday Classic, in 2007, 64-37.

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