WVU women ready for Lamar

MORGANTOWN — Eighty miles. That is approximately the distance from Austin, Texas to San Antonio.

It might seem like much further for the West Virginia women’s basketball team, which must win four games to qualify for the berth in the Final Four of the NCAA Women’s Tournament being held in San Antonio on April 4-6.

No one is more excited about those possibilities than West Virginia junior guard Sarah Miles, who is a native of San Antonio.

“We had an idea of where we might end up, but no one was really sure where exactly we would land,” said Miles, on Monday after the field was released. “I kept hearing little whispers about Texas, but I didn’t get too excited about it because you never know.”

Miles and the Mountaineers, seeded third in the Memphis Region, will open play on Sunday against Southland Conference champion and 14th seed Lamar. The winner will meet No. 6 Texas or No. 11 San Diego State next Tuesday in the second round.

West Virginia head coach Mike Carey wasn’t only disappointed with being a third seed instead of a second, but he also wasn’t happy about the possibility of having to play Texas in a second round game on the Longhorns’ home floor.

Carey said he hoped the Big East would assist in keeping that scenario from happening. They didn’t.

“I am a little disappointed in the Big East. I thought they would fight for us a little bit more and not let this happen,” Carey said. “We asked them to help us and make sure this didn’t happen again and it did.

“It is what it is, though, and we just have to get ready for the game.”

West Virginia (28-5) can’t worry about Texas just yet. The Mountaineers will be playing Lamar (26-7) at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin on Sunday at 9:30 p.m. It will be televised by ESPN2.

The Cardinals, who are coached by Larry Tidwell, defeated Texas-Corpus Christi 86-59 in the Southland Conference championship game. They are led by a trio of double digit scorers, including Jenna Plumley (14.4 ppg), Southland Tournament MVP Darika Hill (13.4) and Kalis Lloyd (13.2).

Plumley, a transfer from Oklahoma, was selected by the SLC as its player and newcomer of the year. She broke school records for 3-pointers (97) and assists (196) for a season, and ranks among the top 10 nationally in both categories.

West Virginia has never played Lamar before. The Cardinals are located in Beaumont, Texas.

“I don’t know anything about Lamar’s team, but I know their coach real well,” said Carey, early this week. “He is a great guy. He used to be an assistant coach at TCU and I am good friends with him, so it will be good to see him, but I don’t know anything about his team.”

West Virginia also reached its title game, but lost to top-ranked and overwhelming tournament favorite Connecticut 60-32 in the Big East finale.

Despite that defeat, the 10th ranked Mountaineers were hoping for a higher seed, but wound up third, trailing fellow league competitors Connecticut and Notre Dame.

“I am very excited, I can’t wait,” West Virginia junior Korinne Campbell said.

“Once Notre Dame got the number two seed, I knew that we were going to get a number three seed. I was a little bit disappointed, but you have to take what you get and just roll with it.

“Once we got it, I felt good. Now we know where we are, and now we know what we have to do. We know how we need to play defense and how we are going to attack offensively.”

Campbell is one of three double figure scorers for the Mountaineers, Liz Repella (13.8 ppg) leads West Virginia, followed by Campbell (10.8) and Asya Bussie (10.8). Campbell is pulling down 7.5 rebounds a contest, while Miles contributes 9.9 points and 6.0 assists per game.

The Mountaineers will be making their sixth trip to the NCAA tournament, including a third visit in the last four years, posting a 4-5 mark in those appearances.

West Virginia, which first qualified for the NCAAs in 1989, reached the second round of the tournament in 1992, 2007, and ‘08. The Mountaineers were 18-15 last season, losing to St. Bonaventure in the second round of the WNIT.

The West Virginia men were also unhappy about their seeding, but went out and won a first round game on Friday against Morgan State. Carey and the Mountaineers are now focused on playing ball too.

West Virginia did avoid a rematch with Connecticut by being in the Memphis Regional, but could run into traditional powers like Texas, Tennessee, LSU or Duke on their road to what they hope is the Final Four.

“(Austin) is a great place, a great town and venue, but you just don’t want to play the home team on their floor,” said Carey, in his ninth season at West Virginia. “I would like for them to come play us here in Morgantown, but that isn’t going to happen.

“They put on a great tournament that is very well run and very professional. There is no doubt our girls will enjoy it regardless.”

For West Virginia, that enjoyment starts in Austin. That 80 miles, it can seem much further away. No one knows that better than Miles.

“I am going to try to play just like it is any other game and stay comfortable,” Miles said, “and not even think about playing at home and just focus on playing the game.”

— Contact Brian Woodson

at bwoodson@bdtonline.com

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