MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Naomi Davenport and Tynice Martin achieved the rare cinco-double Tuesday night.
Davenport the senior forward from Cincinnati became the first West Virginia women’s player since 1987 to record a triple-double, while Martin — making her return after missing last season with a fractured foot — added a double-double in the 78-37 victory against Coppin State.
A crowd of 1,103 inside the WVU Coliseum saw Davenport copile 13 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists, becoming the school’s fourth player to accomplish the feat and the first since Dionne Morris produced 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists against St. Bonaventure on Dec. 21, 1987.
“I was looking for that 10th assist,” Davenport said. “I was going to get it. My teammates knew I was looking for it, too.”
It is the fifth time a WVU women’s player accomplished the triple-double. Georgeann Wells did it twice, both times using double figures in blocks to go along with points and rebounds.
Martin finished with a game-high 24 points and tied her career high with 11 rebounds.
“I surprised myself,” Martin said. “Coach [Mike] Carey told me I had eight rebounds at halftime. I was like, ‘Wow.’ ”
The statistical news took the spotlight away, if only for a moment, on what is becoming a disturbing trend for the Mountaineers (1-0).
Before the game started, the school announced that sophomore point guard Kysre Gondrezick would be away from the team handling a personal matter.
The Michigan transfer was set to make her debut with the Mountaineers, but instead left behind a roster of only eight healthy scholarship players.
Carey only called Gondrezick’s deal “a situation” and there was no further details released by West Virginia on a timetable for Gondrezick’s return or if she would return at all.
It’s the second straight season Carey’s roster was whittled to eight scholarship athletes. A year ago, WVU’s eight tired out toward the end of the season and settled for an NIT bid.
“It’s our fault as coaches for not correcting it,” Carey said. “I don’t blame anyone but myself and the coaches. Now, we didn’t know some of this stuff was going to go on, but we still should have had more numbers in here.
“I blame myself because we didn’t do what we needed to do. But I will say this: We will from here on out. Injuries will happen; we can’t control injuries, but I can control numbers.”
Gondrezick’s absence couples with freshman center Rochelle Norris tearing her ACL in preseason practices.
North Carolina State transfer Lucky Rudd won’t become eligible to play until the completion of the fall semester and the Mountaineers are also hoping that Penn State transfer De’Janae Boykin will be cleared by the NCAA to play during the second semester.
The NCAA allows 15 scholarships for women’s basketball. WVU, which hosts NJIT, at 2 p.m. Sunday, has 12 players on scholarship, but four are out of action at the moment.
That did not slow down Davenport on this night, though. Forced to play 31 minutes on opening night did take a toll, though.
“She was tired,” Carey said. “When she gets tired, it’s like she has a refrigerator on her back.”
Already having enough points and rebounds, her teammates kept pushing her to get that 10th assist.
“She kept throwing it to me and I kept missing the shot,” Martin said. “I said, ‘Throw it to Katrina [Pardee], she’ll get it for you.’ ”
With 3:58 remaining in the game, that’s exactly what happened, as Davenport kicked the ball out to Pardee at the top of the key for a 3-pointer that gave the Mountaineers a 72-35 lead.
Pardee finished with 16 points, six rebounds and four assists and the Mountaineers finished with a 50-36 rebounding advantage.