Mountaineers put away Dukes in WNIT’s third round

Krista King scored 17 points in West Virginia’s 67-55 win over James Madison in the WNIT’s third round.

 

MORGANTOWN — It’s an easy thing to understand the immediacy that comes with tournament play, quite another to live it and thrive in its most pressure-packed moments.

Katrina Pardee calls this time of year, “Win or go home,” and that was never clearer for the WVU women’s basketball team than in the fourth quarter of its 67-55 victory over James Madison in the third round of the WNIT.

With the score tied at 48 heading into the fourth quarter, a struggling Pardee was not in the mood to head home. She scored 11 of her 16 points in the fourth quarter to hold off the pesky Dukes (23-11).

“If we lose, there is no tomorrow,” said Pardee. “We know in those situations, we can’t get all riled up. We have to stay focused and stay calm and stick to our game plan.”

It was a game plan that worked beautifully in the second and fourth quarters, and horribly in the first and third.

“We were very fortunate to win that game,” West Virginia coach Mike Carey said. “It’s all heart. It’s all concentration. It’s something this team has done all year. We’ve been so inconsistent. Their energy levels have been so inconsistent.”

The Mountaineers (24-11) advanced to the WNIT quarterfinals and will host St. John’s (19-14) at 4 p.m. Sunday.

A WVU Coliseum crowd of 1,709 saw the Dukes go shot-for-shot with the Mountaineers early. James Madison forward Kelly Koshuta made her first six shots. She scored 14 of her team’s 21 first-quarter points and JMU led, 21-20.

Then the Dukes were held scoreless for the first 7:23 of the second quarter, as WVU took a 14-point lead.

In the second and fourth quarters, JMU shot a combined 4-of-35 and was outscored 34-12.

In the first and third quarters, James Madison shot 61 percent from the floor and outscored West Virginia 43-33.

“What I really base it on is quality of shots,” JMU second-year head coach Sean O’Reagan said. “You know what’s going on. You know your score hasn’t moved in a while. You just try and get them another quality shot. We got cold.”

JMU came back to tie the game at 48 heading into the fourth quarter, but that’s when Pardee turned things around, and Teana Muldrow was able to break through a little bit, too.

After Muldrow opened the fourth with a basket in the paint, Pardee scored off her own miss, then drew an offensive foul as the Dukes tried to inbound the ball.

Muldrow scored again for a 54-48 lead.

Pardee, who is playing on a twisted left knee that was wrapped in ice after the game, wasn’t finished. She hit a 3-pointer, then faked a 3-point attempt, drove a few steps in and nailed a long two.

“It was something I wasn’t really thinking about,” Pardee said. “I just took the shots.”

JMU didn’t score in the fourth until Lexie Barrier made two free throws with 4:44 remaining and didn’t make its first basket in the fourth until Breyenne Bellerand scored on a drive with 2:07 left.

Pardee outscored the Dukes 11-7 by herself in the final quarter.

Kristina King scored 14 of her 17 points in the first half and Muldrow finished with nine points and 10 rebounds.

Chania Ray and Naomi Davenport each scored 10.

Koshuta finished with 22 points and nine rebounds for the Dukes.

— Justin Jackson, The Dominion Post





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