MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The second consecutive road game for the WVU women’s basketball team will open up Big 12 play Saturday night. The No. 14 Mountaineers (10-1) visit Colorado for an 8 p.m. tipoff in the league opener for both teams.
West Virginia won their first true road game on Sunday in a 68-46 triumph at Temple. The Mountaineers are 7-0 at the Coliseum, which each victory coming by at least 21 points. WVU went 2-1 in the Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Fla. over Thanksgiving, with their lone loss coming to No. 5 Texas.
Coming off a week-long break, the Mountaineers started slowly before pulling away in a 22-point win at Temple.
“True road games feel a little bit different than obviously at home, for sure, and even a neutral floor game. We didn’t necessarily have our best offensive night. Numbers would suggest that was our worst offensive performance of the year,” said WVU head coach Mark Kellogg.
“Still, we were pretty good on the defensive end. I thought we forced Temple into taking some of the shots we wanted them to take, or were hoping they would take. There’s still plenty to clean up. We lacked some rhythm on the offensive end.”
Colorado (9-2) is led by ninth-year head coach JR Payne. CU and WVU share a common opponent in Boise State. Colorado fell to BSU 50-47 on November 10. West Virginia knocked off Boise, 82-47 on November 30. The Buffaloes have won four NCAA Tournament games over the last two seasons, but their roster this season features several newcomers. CU and WVU both had their seasons end in March at the hands of Iowa in the NCAA Tournament.
“We’ll get ready for Big 12 play and a quality program that is really well-coached. They have great culture and back-to-back Sweet 16’s for Colorado. It is a full new roster. I think they have ten new ones on their roster, a couple of which we are familiar with because they are Big 12 transfers.
“You have to dig a little deeper because you just don’t know them quite as well. You don’t have old scouts to go off of. If you want play calls, you don’t have many of those. Some of our coaches have maybe played against them in the past too, so you can kind of draw off that a little bit. I have never coached against JR Payne, and she does a great job. It is a first for both of us.”
Senior Kyah Watson is coming off a double-double against Temple. She scored a season-high 15 points and added ten rebounds.
“I thought against East Tennessee State, she was more aggressive. That’s all we ask of Kyah, to be a little bit more offensively aggressive. I thought she did what she always does on the defensive end. She was all over the place with rebounds and steals. If we make a mistake, Kyah is kind of the cover up to the mistake because she can go and make so many plays and really just help off of others.”
WVU senior forward Kylee Blacksten is a native of Colorado Springs and she played two seasons at CU to open her college career.