FORT WORTH, Texas (Dec. 28. 2017)– A career-high 32 points by junior guard Naomi Davenport led the No. 9 West Virginia women’s basketball team to an 87-82 win over TCU in the Mountaineers’ Big 12 opener at Schollmaier Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, on Thursday.
The 2017-18 season marks the second straight year that WVU (13-0, 1-0) has topped TCU (9-3, 0-1) to open Big 12 play. The victory pushes the Mountaineers’ win streak to 13 straight games.
Davenport went 13-of-23 to set career highs for field goals made and field goals attempted. She just missed a double-double with nine rebounds, and added a pair of steals and a block as well. Davenport was the first player since 2001 to score 30 or more points in her career Big 12 debut.
Senior forward Teana Muldrow notched her seventh double-double of the season with 20 points and a career-high 17 rebounds. She made nine shots from the field, chipping in a pair of blocks and a steal as well.
After getting into early foul trouble, junior guard Katrina Pardee scored 15 points in the fourth quarter to finish with 17 on the night. She sank a trio of shots from beyond the arc and registered a team-high three steals, while senior guard Chania Ray put up 11 points with eight assists and eight rebounds.
The Mountaineers finished shooting 46.5 percent on the night. They held a 43-36 advantage over TCU on the glass and forced the Horned Frogs into 16 turnovers.
“We’re just really short-handed because of injuries,” WVU coach Mike Carey said. “I’m really proud of the girls. They really sucked it up and did a good job there at the end. We missed a lot of foul shots, a lot of block-outs and that down the stretch so we’ve got to do better than that. I give our girls a lot of credit. If you look at the minutes they played, several of them played 40, 39 minutes. That’s tough.”
Back-to-back layups by Ray helped WVU start the game on a 6-0 run before TCU got on the board with a jumper with 8:10 remaining in the first quarter. The Horned Frogs made it a one-possession game at 6-4 before Davenport nailed a triple to give the Mountaineers some breathing room at 9-4 with 7:07 to play in the first frame.
Pardee and redshirt junior center Theresa Ekhelar each added a layup to make it a 13-9 WVU lead midway through the first. Ray hit the free-throw line for a pair before Muldrow added two in the paint as the Mountaineers led the Horned Frogs 19-15 at the end of the first.
The Horned Frogs used a 5-0 run at the start the second quarter to take a 20-19 lead before Davenport came through again in the paint to put the Mountaineers ahead. An 8-0 scoring run by TCU gave the Frogs a 28-21 lead before Davenport hit a jumper to end the run. Davenport scored six more points, including a late trey, to finish the just three shy of her career high with 19 points as the Mountaineers held a 35-34 advantage over Frogs at the half.
Five early points by Muldrow pushed WVU’s lead to 40-36 early in the third. Davenport made a layup and drew the foul, tying her career high with 22 points on the ensuing free throw as the Mountaineers took a 45-40 lead with just over seven to play in the third. The Frogs made seven of eight free-throws through the remainder of the quarter as WVU trailed 56-53 heading into the fourth.
TCU used a jumper to make it a five-point lead early in the quarter before Davenport converted another three-point play to cut WVU’s deficit to two. Pardee scored on the fast break soon after to tie the game at 60-60 with 7:41 to play.
A triple from Pardee capped a 7-0 run by WVU, putting the Mountaineers on top 67-62. The Frogs cut the lead to three before Pardee put up two more 3-pointers and added two free throws to push WVU’s lead to double digits at 81-71 with 1:11 to play. Ray made three shots on two trips to the free-throw line inside the final minute, while Pardee went 2-for-2 with two seconds remaining as the Mountaineers claimed the 87-82 win.
The Mountaineers remain in the Lone Star State to face No. 8 Texas in Austin on Sunday. Tipoff is set for 4:30 p.m. ET.
Notes: Senior forward Teana Muldrow registered her seventh double-double of the season with 20 points and a career-high 17 rebounds … she moves into a tie for 10th place all-time after picking up her 17th career double-double … it was her ninth 20-point performance of the season … Muldrow is the first player to score 20 or more points and 17 or more rebounds in a Big 12 game since Oklahoma State’s Brittany Martin scored 24 points and grabbed 17 rebounds against Kansas on Jan. 24, 2016 … is marks the 29th time it has happened in Big 12 play … junior guard Naomi Davenport set a new career high with 32 points, besting her previous career high of 22 set against Sacramento State on Nov. 14 … her 32 points are the most by a Mountaineer this season … she moves into a tie for 10th place on WVU’s junior games leaders list … she is the first Big 12 player to score 30 or more points in their first career league game since Baylor’s Sheila Lambert scored 32 against Oklahoma in 2001 … WVU moves to 3-3 in Big 12 openers since joining the league in 2012.
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The 2017-18 season marks the second straight year that WVU (13-0, 1-0) has topped TCU (9-3, 0-1) to open Big 12 play. The victory pushes the Mountaineers’ win streak to 13 straight games.
Davenport went 13-of-23 to set career highs for field goals made and field goals attempted. She just missed a double-double with nine rebounds, and added a pair of steals and a block as well. Davenport was the first player since 2001 to score 30 or more points in her career Big 12 debut.
Senior forward Teana Muldrow notched her seventh double-double of the season with 20 points and a career-high 17 rebounds. She made nine shots from the field, chipping in a pair of blocks and a steal as well.
After getting into early foul trouble, junior guard Katrina Pardee scored 15 points in the fourth quarter to finish with 17 on the night. She sank a trio of shots from beyond the arc and registered a team-high three steals, while senior guard Chania Ray put up 11 points with eight assists and eight rebounds.
The Mountaineers finished shooting 46.5 percent on the night. They held a 43-36 advantage over TCU on the glass and forced the Horned Frogs into 16 turnovers.
“We’re just really short-handed because of injuries,” WVU coach Mike Carey said. “I’m really proud of the girls. They really sucked it up and did a good job there at the end. We missed a lot of foul shots, a lot of block-outs and that down the stretch so we’ve got to do better than that. I give our girls a lot of credit. If you look at the minutes they played, several of them played 40, 39 minutes. That’s tough.”
Back-to-back layups by Ray helped WVU start the game on a 6-0 run before TCU got on the board with a jumper with 8:10 remaining in the first quarter. The Horned Frogs made it a one-possession game at 6-4 before Davenport nailed a triple to give the Mountaineers some breathing room at 9-4 with 7:07 to play in the first frame.
Pardee and redshirt junior center Theresa Ekhelar each added a layup to make it a 13-9 WVU lead midway through the first. Ray hit the free-throw line for a pair before Muldrow added two in the paint as the Mountaineers led the Horned Frogs 19-15 at the end of the first.
The Horned Frogs used a 5-0 run at the start the second quarter to take a 20-19 lead before Davenport came through again in the paint to put the Mountaineers ahead. An 8-0 scoring run by TCU gave the Frogs a 28-21 lead before Davenport hit a jumper to end the run. Davenport scored six more points, including a late trey, to finish the just three shy of her career high with 19 points as the Mountaineers held a 35-34 advantage over Frogs at the half.
Five early points by Muldrow pushed WVU’s lead to 40-36 early in the third. Davenport made a layup and drew the foul, tying her career high with 22 points on the ensuing free throw as the Mountaineers took a 45-40 lead with just over seven to play in the third. The Frogs made seven of eight free-throws through the remainder of the quarter as WVU trailed 56-53 heading into the fourth.
TCU used a jumper to make it a five-point lead early in the quarter before Davenport converted another three-point play to cut WVU’s deficit to two. Pardee scored on the fast break soon after to tie the game at 60-60 with 7:41 to play.
A triple from Pardee capped a 7-0 run by WVU, putting the Mountaineers on top 67-62. The Frogs cut the lead to three before Pardee put up two more 3-pointers and added two free throws to push WVU’s lead to double digits at 81-71 with 1:11 to play. Ray made three shots on two trips to the free-throw line inside the final minute, while Pardee went 2-for-2 with two seconds remaining as the Mountaineers claimed the 87-82 win.
The Mountaineers remain in the Lone Star State to face No. 8 Texas in Austin on Sunday. Tipoff is set for 4:30 p.m. ET.
Notes: Senior forward Teana Muldrow registered her seventh double-double of the season with 20 points and a career-high 17 rebounds … she moves into a tie for 10th place all-time after picking up her 17th career double-double … it was her ninth 20-point performance of the season … Muldrow is the first player to score 20 or more points and 17 or more rebounds in a Big 12 game since Oklahoma State’s Brittany Martin scored 24 points and grabbed 17 rebounds against Kansas on Jan. 24, 2016 … is marks the 29th time it has happened in Big 12 play … junior guard Naomi Davenport set a new career high with 32 points, besting her previous career high of 22 set against Sacramento State on Nov. 14 … her 32 points are the most by a Mountaineer this season … she moves into a tie for 10th place on WVU’s junior games leaders list … she is the first Big 12 player to score 30 or more points in their first career league game since Baylor’s Sheila Lambert scored 32 against Oklahoma in 2001 … WVU moves to 3-3 in Big 12 openers since joining the league in 2012.
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