West Virginia opens the NCAA tournament against Columbia

Morgantown, W.Va. -The Women’s Basketball team at West Virginia University (24-7) opens the game at the NCAA tournament when they compete against Columbia on Saturday, March 22nd, in the first round of March Madness.

The competition against Columbia is broadcast on Espnews with Angel Gray and Aja Ellison on the call. The game can also be heard in the Varsity Network -app Andrew Caridi on the call. Live statistics and game notes will be available on wvusports.com.

The Matchup with Columbia only marks the second time that the two programs have met. The mountaineers claimed the first and only meetings in 2007 with a final result of 74-41. The game was also played on a neutral ground as part of the FAU Holiday Classic.

Head coach Mark Kellogg is the first WVU coach in the program history that leads the climber to the NCAA tournament in the first two seasons. Kellogg will train for the fourth time in his career at the post -season event.

The offer is the 16th overall offer of West Virginia since 1989 and the eighth since joining the BIG 12 conference in 2013. WVU is 12-15 ever in the NCAA tournament.

Kellogg’s 49 victories mark most of the time for a WVU head coach in the first two seasons in Morgantown. West Virginia ended with the fourth best record of the regular Big 12 season with 13: 5.

The mountaineers are managed by senior guard JJ strange Who has an average of 20.6 points per game. For the second time in a row, she scored over 600 points in one season and is the only player in the program history who comes into the brand twice in a career. For her career, she is fourth in points and scored 1,981 points and is 20 points from Bria Holmes (2013-16) for third place with 2,001. In addition, with 320, the third -party program history shows in the program history.

Quinerly was named defensive player of the year of Big 12 for the second season in a row, for the third time, an all-Big 12 selection of the first team. Jordan Harrison Received her second honor in a row this season after she was appointed in honor of the third team. Both strange and Kyah Watson were two out of five in the defensive team of the conference. Quinerly was a unanimous selection for both the first and the defensive team, since the mountaineers had two functions for the second season in a row.

In a season, the WVU scored 13 BIG 12 conference victories for the third time in 13 seasons. The five conference losses mean the second world in the Big 12 game and the slightest since the loss of only two in the 2014 season.

Harrison (13.5) and Junior Guard Sydney Shaw (11.7) keep up with the mountaineers who produce production this season. Harrison’s 4.5 assists per game leads the WVU and occupied 10^TH In Big 12. Senior Guard Kyah Watson Has won 7.5 rebounds per game, which occupies seventh place in the Big 12, while their 3.2 steals per game come first and Quinerly’s 3.0 steals are in second place per game. Both steals’ Marks are the top 10 in the nation.

Watson (98), Quinerly (89) and Harrison (66) are an average of two steals per competition per competition this season to enable all ranking in the top 5 of the conference. Junior Guard Sydney Shaw and Senior Guard Sydney Woodley This season I also got involved in the action with 54 and 50 steals and gave WVU five players with over 50 steals in 31 games.

In the last two seasons in 63 out of 64 games, the mountaineers forced more than 15 sales. This season, WVU recorded more than 20 sales to an average of 23.7 per game in 22 games. The brand took third place in the nation. The mountaineers forced over 30 sales in six games, including 44 season height. WVU takes second place in the nation with 13.6 steals per game.

WVU ended the regular season the best defense in the conference. WVU directed the BIG 12 in the goal defense (54.4), steals (411), steal per game (14.2), sales (708) and the sales edge (+8.76).

As a direct master of Ivy League regular champion, Columbia earned a Largen berth on the field. The Ivy League brought three teams to this year’s NCAA field for the first time in the history of the conference.

The Lions won three regular seasonal championships in a row in the Ivy League and reached a program record from 21 December to 14 to 14 to 14 to 14. February. In this year’s NCAA tournament field, Columbia has achieved five victories against teams in the past four years.