The third-seeded West Virginia women’s basketball team will travel to Austin, Texas, this weekend to take on 14th-seeded Lamar Sunday night in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Tip-off is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. at the Frank Erwin Center.
West Virginia was last on the court in the Big East Conference Championship game when the Mountaineers were blown out by No. 1 Connecticut 60-32.
West Virginia associate head coach George Porcha said the team has done well in practice since the loss and is itching to get back onto the court for a game.
It’s also the first NCAA Tournament for all but two players on the roster, juniors Liz Repella and Sarah Miles, but Porcha thinks the new experience will only positively affect his team.
"(Head coach Mike Carey) does a great job," Porcha said. "He tells the girls they’re not promised to be here next year, so they have to take care of the opportunity.
"They’re anxious and excited, and just thankful they have the opportunity to play Lamar."
Porcha said he doesn’t think his team will overlook its first-round matchup in anticipation for a potential second round game with sixth-seeded Texas.
"It’s 100 percent not a worry that we will overlook them," he said. "Mike does an outstanding job to get his team to prepare for one game at a time – that’s the main reason why we didn’t have a lot of bad losses."
Lamar comes into Sunday’s contest winners of six of its past seven games, including the Southland Conference Championship.
The Cardinals are led by junior guard Jenna Plumley, who played the first two years of her collegiate career at Oklahoma. She leads the team with 14.4 points and 6.7 assists per game.
"She’s very consistent and can shoot the three," Porcha said. "She’s one of the top assists leaders in the country. What makes her really good is she is able to make the other four kids around her a lot better.
Lamar boasts two other double-figure scorers.
Darika Hill is scoring 13.4 points and leads the team 6.9 rebounds per game. She also leads the team with a 40 percent 3-point shooting percentage.
Kalis Loyd is right behind Hill in scoring with 13.2 points per game and is collecting 6.5 rebounds per game.
The Cardinals are scoring 75.6 points per game and holding opponents to just 65.9 points. The Mountaineers have scored more than 75 points only four times this season, as they average just 63.3 points per game.
"It’s an interesting matchup," Porcha said. "They’re coming in as a team averaging that many points, and we’re a defensive oriented team. It really comes down to who will impose their will. Our kids have worked extremely hard. We feel good where we are at."
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