CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A WNIT basketball championship will be at stake when West Virginia meets UCLA on Saturday afternoon at the Charleston Civic Center, a game Mountaineers center Lanay Montgomery said will define the season.
“It’s been an up-and-down year for us and I think it would be awesome if we got to go out there and just get the ‘W.’ We just know that we’re going to come out here and we’re going to leave it all on the court,” said Montgomery.
The Mountaineers (23-14) are coming off a 66-58 overtime win against Temple in the WNIT semifinals on Wednesday, the same night UCLA (18-18) won at Michigan. Montgomery had 24 rebounds and eight blocks against the Owls.
The championship game was moved to Charleston because an NCAA gymnastics regional was scheduled for the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown.
Montgomery said her team is familiar with the Civic Center from the Capital City Classic. “We play there every year. We play Marshall there, so we’re not unfamiliar with the court, but it will be a different atmosphere (on Saturday),” she said on Friday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”
Thousands of tickets for the game had been sold as of Friday morning.
“They’re all into the game,” Montgomery said of the WNIT tournament crowds the Mountaineers have been drawing. “I think the team feeds off of that and it’s just a great feeling, just knowing that we have the state behind us.”
Coach Mike Carey said he was appreciative of the athletics department allocating the money to keep the championship game in-state.
“It would be great to play the game (in Morgantown), but I do want to thank the administration for putting in a bid and renting the Civic Center, which his not cheap,” he said. “It’s great that they were willing to do
West Virginia’s women have never won a WNIT championship. The closes they came was reaching the championship game in 2005.
Saturday’s game will be televised on the CBS Sports Network, with tipoff is set for 3 p.m. It’ll be the fourth all-time meeting, with UCLA leading the series 2-1.
The Bruins, five games under .500 when the WNIT began, now have a chance to claim the title and finish with a winning record.
“They have good size,” Carey said. “They’re athletic (like Temple) was on the perimeter, but with more size.”