West Virgina Earns NCAA Tournament Bid

The Mountaineers' late season surge punches their ticket into the NCAA tournament

West Virginia women's basketball head coach Dawn Plitzuweit has the Mountaineers in the NCAA tournament as a ten seed in her first season at the helm and will meet the seventh-seeded Arizona Wildcats on Friday.

West Virginia posted a 19-11 overall record and finished the season 5-2 in the last seven regular season games to finish 10-8 in Big 12 Conference play. The Mountaineers swept Baylor and notched a top 20 win over Iowa State to bolster their resume. 

Guards Madisen Smith and JJ Quinerly lead the Mountaineers in scoring, combining for an average of 28.6 points per game. 

The Wildcats finished the season 21-9 with an 11-7 Pac 12 Conference record and ended the regular season ranked 24th in the AP Poll. Arizona notched multiple wins over top 25 foes during the season, splitting the regular season series with Colorado (20), UCLA (17) and Utah (8) with notable wins over previously ranked Baylor and Oregon. 

Arizona is led by guard Shaina Pellington. The fifth-year senior is averaging 13.3 points per game while averaging a team-leading 3.7 assists per game. Fifth-year senior guard Cate Reese averages 12.6 points per game to go with 5.9 rebounds and former Mountaineer Esmery Martinez leads the team in rebounding at 8.3 per game and is third on the team in scoring, averaging 10.5 ppg. 

The Mountaineers lost the only matchup between the two programs 65-61 November 20, 1982.

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