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WVU fights off stern test from Charlotte to snap two-game skid, 65-54

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Mike Carey watched his WVU women’s basketball team struggle to create separation from Charlotte for the final 29 minutes of their game Tuesday evening at the Coliseum. Although WVU never relinquished the lead over the final three quarters, the visiting 49ers hung tough before falling to the Mountaineers, 65-54.

The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Mountaineers (5-2).

“We’ve got to get some things corrected. Even though we weren’t playing well, we gutted it out and got the win,” said WVU head coach Mike Carey.

“Good teams, when they get somebody down, they play harder and they execute more. We are just not a good team right now. Do we have the capability of being a good team? Absolutely. But we have a long way to go.”

West Virginia led by two points [15-13] at the end of the first quarter and at halftime [31-29]. The Mountaineers extended their lead to ten points [43-33] midway through the third quarter. However, the 49ers trimmed their deficit to three points [45-42] in the opening minute of the fourth. WVU kept the 49ers (3-4) at a distance the rest of the way.

Guard KK Deans led the Mountaineers with 20 points. She was questionable to play after suffering an ankle injury last week.

“She showed a lot of guts. She had a bad sprained ankle coming out of the Kentucky game. She didn’t practice for two days. She did a bunch of rehab and gutted it out,” Carey said.

“I was just doing treatment every day, three times a day, just trying to get it back. It is about 75 to 80 percent.  I have great teammates. They pushed me and kept me in high spirits,” Deans said.

Madisen Smith was West Virginia’s other double digit scorer. She scored 11 points.

Eleven players entered the game for the Mountaineers. Through the first seven games of the season, Carey has heavily used his bench in an effort to mix the veterans with the newcomers. Carey acknowledged the rotation could be shortened soon.

“It may be coming. I don’t want it to, to be honest with you. My philosophy is that if coach puts you in, go in there and make him want to keep you in there. Do things the right way that coach wants to keep you in there. But when you go in there and you don’t do things the right way, you are probably going to come out. I don’t determine playing time, they do.”

“It is going to take time because we have a lot of new faces,” Smith said. “We also have a lot of returners so we are just going to have to bring them along and teach them how things are run around here.”

“We get timid or we get sped up sometimes,” Deans said. “We are still a young team too. We’re trying to get our veterans to match our younger [players] and all come together, because there is a long season ahead of us.”

The Mountaineers will visit James Madison Sunday afternoon.

(Mike Carey postgame press conference)




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