10:06am: Talkline with Hoppy Kercheval

WVU women can’t overcome 13-point half vs. Cowgirls

West Virginia guard Linda Stepney drive through traffic during Wednesday’s 52-46 loss to Oklahoma State.

 

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.  — The West Virginia women, unable to overcome their lowest-scoring half ever at the WVU Coliseum, fell 52-46 to Oklahoma State on Wednesday night.

Brittney Martin scored 24 and Lashawn Jones finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Cowgirls (17-8, 7-7), who led 23-13 at halftime by holding the Mountaineers (15-11, 5-9 Big 12) to 6-of-23 shooting. West Virginia drew within six in the second half on four occasions but saw its four-game home win streak snapped.

Coach Mike Carey pointed to the most lopsided stat—four WVU assists vs. 19 turnovers—and lamented, “That says it all right there.”

Then he said more about his team’s disappointing effort.

“It’s amazing to me that we don’t get offensive rebounds and then we don’t get back on defense. That tells me it is going to be a whole new team next year. Some of these players don’t deserve to wear West Virginia on their jerseys, and starting tomorrow we’re not going to wear West Virginia in practice”

Limited much of the first half due to foul trouble, Bria Holmes paced West Virginia with 12 points, becoming the 18th WVU player to reach 500 points in a season. Averee Fields added 10 points and Lanay Montgomery finished with seven blocks.

Oklahoma State, which won its fourth straight, won the rebounding battle 39-31.

West Virginia’s slow was partly due to the absence of its leading scorer Holmes, who fouled twice in the first four minutes and went to the bench.

“We run a lot of stuff through her,” Carey said. “The last time that happened we had girls step up and score and play defense, this time no one did it.”WVU led 7-6 at the 10:40 mark before Oklahoma State closed the half on a 17-6 run.

“The first half, both teams may have set basketball back 50 years,” said Oklahoma State coach Jim Littell. “It was some ugly basketball for both teams. But we came in here a year ago and got blown out, so we are very excited to win this game.”

West Virginia returns to action Saturday against Iowa State in a noon tip-off on Fox Sports Net.





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