MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia built a 23-point halftime lead and enjoyed Senior Night with a 73-54 win over Kansas in women’s basketball action Monday night.
In pregame ceremonies, the Mountaineers (20-10, 8-10) honored seniors Lanay Montgomery and Desiree Rhodes. Montgomery finished with seven points and nine rebounds, moving into fourth all-time on the WVU career list with 898 rebounds.
Tynice Martin finished with 17 points, while Teana Muldrow scored 15 points and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. Junior Kristina King knocked down 6-of-7 from the field and finished with 13 points.
Chania Ray finished with11 points and a game-best five assists, though she also committed seven of WVU’s 19 turnovers.
West Virginia won 20 games for the 11th time under 16th-year head coach Mike Carey.
The Mountaineers, who earned the No. 6 seed in the Big 12 tournament that begins Friday in Oklahoma City, Okla., will face No. 3 seed in Saturday’s quarterfinals.
“Good to get a win for the seniors’ in the last game,” Carey said. “I thought we played a lot better in the first half than we did in the second half, but that’s the story of our season. Sloppy with the basketball, gave up second-chance points. When we go to tournament time, if we have that many turnovers and give up that many second-chance points, we won’t win a game.”
Jessica Washington had 18 points to lead Kansas (8-21, 2-16), which shot only 29 percent.
West Virginia shot 48.3 percent from the field (28-of-58) and won the rebounding battle, 44-33.
“I thought West Virginia was very disruptive, especially in the first half defensively and really took us out of rhythm,” said Kansas coach Brandon Schneider. “They forced us into some bad shots and turnovers in which they were able to get out into transitions.”
King scored five consecutive points in a minute to put West Virginia up 20-6 at the 1:37 mark.
The Mountaineers held a 41-18 lead at the half, their largest in Big 12 play this season, with Muldrow scoring 12.