Womens basketball opens ’09 season against Towson

When the West Virginia women's basketball team takes the court against Towson tonight, it will be something the team has looked forward to for weeks.

For the first time in program history, the team was chosen to participate in the Preseason Women's National Invitation Tournament.

"We are definitely looking forward to Friday, but we still have a lot of work to do to get ready," said forward Korinne Campbell.

Despite coming off of a 123-65 victory over Glenville State in an exhibition game Sunday, WVU head coach Mike Carey still saw things that needed to be improved this week.

"I was very disappointed in our turnovers and defense on Sunday, and we didn't talk or communicate during the game," Carey said.

The Mountaineers had a total of 27 turnovers against Glenville State, which Carey said could have been a product of having young players on the floor.

"You have to understand that only two of those girls that played Sunday played last year, so everything is messed up," Carey said. "The freshmen seemed to be a little bit tight, but we will get better with all that."

The Mountaineers will sport a roster that does not include any seniors this season for the first time since 1978, and they return only five players from last year's squad.

West Virginia has three freshmen – Asya Bussie, Akeema Richards and Antishia Wright – all of whom were rated in the Top 100 freshmen by ESPN.com.

Also joining the fold for the Mountaineers is Minnesota-transfer Korinne Campbell, who sat out last season due to NCAA transfer rules, but played a total of 65 games for the Golden Gophers.

Against Glenville State, Campbell led all Mountaineers with 25 points and 17 rebounds.

One returnee that the Mountaineers are expected to lean heavily on is combo guard Sarah Miles, who is the top scorer coming back with 12.2 points per game.

Miles, though, is nursing a hand injury and is expected to be a game-time decision for Friday's season opener. The Tigers, who are coming off of a 17-13 overall season and an 8-10 performance within the Colonial Athletic Association, will be a challenge for West Virginia.

"They are a veteran team with a lot of seniors and a lot of their starters back, so they are going to have a lot of chemistry," Carey said.

Senior point guard Shanae Baker-Brice, who was a first team All-CAA selection and CAA All-Defensive team honoree, is the leader of the veteran team.

Besides Baker-Brice, the Tigers return their top seven scorers from last year's squad, including 6-foot-3 forward Katrina Wheeler.

Wheeler averaged 9.7 points per game and 8.4 rebounds per game last season, and was a third team All-CAA selection.

With the anticipation of Friday's game looming for the Mountaineers, both players and coaches think a large crowd will have quite an impact on their performance.

In the event of a West Virginia win, the second-round game location depends on the first-round crowd size.

"We need to have a great crowd here Friday so we can host a second-round game in the event that we win," Carey said. "We can't let Marist have a better crowd than us on Friday."

Action is slated to tip off at the Coliseum against Towson at 7 p.m.