MORGANTOWN - Mike Carey had a rather sobering message for his West Virginia women's basketball team Tuesday night, one that neither the Mountaineers nor their fans probably had really considered.
MORGANTOWN - Mike Carey had a rather sobering message for his West Virginia women's basketball team Tuesday night, one that neither the Mountaineers nor their fans probably had really considered.
Yes, this is a team that began the season 16-0. After 20 games it was 19-1. Through the first three months of the season West Virginia was a fixture not just in the Top 25, but in the Top 10.
Carey's message, though, shattered all the warm and fuzzy feelings generated by what now - in the wake of four losses in the last five games - seems a long-ago run.
"I told them that right now we've got to win three or four more games or we won't make the NCAA tournament,'' Carey said. "The girls looked at me like I was crazy, but we're [6-5] in the Big East. We're not going to make the NCAA tournament with a losing Big East record.''
OK, but the Mountaineers probably will make the NCAA tournament with a few more games like the one they played Tuesday night just before Carey delivered his state of the postseason address to his team. Yes, it was another loss, but this one came with a few glimmers of hope attached.
In this one, West Virginia led two-time defending national champion and No. 2 Connecticut for virtually the entire first half and stayed right with the Huskies for most of the second. Only a magnificent effort from three-time All-America and former national player of the year Maya Moore saved the Huskies, who won 57-51 in front of a Coliseum crowd of 5,855.
"We had a great effort,'' said senior WVU Liz Repella, whose two early 3-pointers helped spur a fast start against the Huskies. "If we had that kind of effort every night we could beat anybody in the country.''
Now, though, is the time when that effort has to come.
The Mountaineers (20-5, 6-5 Big East) are still ranked No. 17, but Tuesday's loss, as encouraging as it might have been, still leaves them right in the middle of the Big East and just one game over .500 in the league with five regular-season games to play - three of them on the road and one of the two home games a stiff test against No. 8 Notre Dame.
But even Carey, although disappointed with yet another loss, saw the bright side.
"We stayed focused on our game plan for about 30 of the 40 minutes,'' he said. "But that's more than we have been. Maybe next game we can make it 35 minutes.''
MORGANTOWN - Mike Carey had a rather sobering message for his West Virginia women's basketball team Tuesday night, one that neither the Mountaineers nor their fans probably had really considered.
Yes, this is a team that began the season 16-0. After 20 games it was 19-1. Through the first three months of the season West Virginia was a fixture not just in the Top 25, but in the Top 10.
Carey's message, though, shattered all the warm and fuzzy feelings generated by what now - in the wake of four losses in the last five games - seems a long-ago run.
"I told them that right now we've got to win three or four more games or we won't make the NCAA tournament,'' Carey said. "The girls looked at me like I was crazy, but we're [6-5] in the Big East. We're not going to make the NCAA tournament with a losing Big East record.''
OK, but the Mountaineers probably will make the NCAA tournament with a few more games like the one they played Tuesday night just before Carey delivered his state of the postseason address to his team. Yes, it was another loss, but this one came with a few glimmers of hope attached.
In this one, West Virginia led two-time defending national champion and No. 2 Connecticut for virtually the entire first half and stayed right with the Huskies for most of the second. Only a magnificent effort from three-time All-America and former national player of the year Maya Moore saved the Huskies, who won 57-51 in front of a Coliseum crowd of 5,855.
"We had a great effort,'' said senior WVU Liz Repella, whose two early 3-pointers helped spur a fast start against the Huskies. "If we had that kind of effort every night we could beat anybody in the country.''
Now, though, is the time when that effort has to come.
The Mountaineers (20-5, 6-5 Big East) are still ranked No. 17, but Tuesday's loss, as encouraging as it might have been, still leaves them right in the middle of the Big East and just one game over .500 in the league with five regular-season games to play - three of them on the road and one of the two home games a stiff test against No. 8 Notre Dame.
But even Carey, although disappointed with yet another loss, saw the bright side.
"We stayed focused on our game plan for about 30 of the 40 minutes,'' he said. "But that's more than we have been. Maybe next game we can make it 35 minutes.''
Even 35 against the Huskies, though, might not have been enough, and that's entirely because of Moore. The 6-foot senior, who averages 24.5 points, scored 27 against the Mountaineers and was without question the difference. She scored 12 points in the first half just to keep UConn afloat despite 12 turnovers and an uncharacteristic propensity for firing up 3-pointers. In the second half she scored 15 more, and on a night when both teams struggled offensively, Moore was the one player who could rise above it all.
"Maya just happened to make a couple of shots and a couple of plays and that was the difference,'' said UConn coach Geno Auriemma. "There were times when we just couldn't get anything going and Maya did it by herself. Without someone like that, tonight probably becomes a loss rather than a win."
The Huskies (23-1, 11-0), of course, know little about losing, having done so just once in the last 102 games. They had a 90-game win streak snapped by Stanford just before the new year began and have won 11 straight since then.
West Virginia did its best to work around Moore, forcing UConn into all those first-half turnovers and bad shots, but could generate little offense to take advantage of the situation. Repella scored 13 points and Madina Ali 17, but the rest of the team combined for just 21.
"The difference? When they struggled to score they went to Maya Moore,'' Carey said. "When we struggled to score we struggled to score.''
That still didn't stop West Virginia from taking a 9-2 lead at the start and extending it to as much as 20-12. Save for 2-0, the Mountaineers didn't trail in the first 20 minutes.
But Moore drained a 24-foot 3-pointer just before halftime to draw UConn within 29-27, then fueled the entire second half, in which UConn immediately took the lead and never gave it back. West Virginia never trailed by double figures and was within 52-47 with just under four minutes to play, but that was as close as it would get.
Now the challenge for the Mountaineers is to turn yet another loss into a positive, which could happen given the circumstances of the loss and the opponent. But as everyone seems to agree, time is running short and Carey's message about still being on the NCAA tournament fringe rings true.
"It's a reality check. We have five games left and we can't be playing around anymore,'' Repella said. "The seniors on this team don't want to play in the NIT. Our goal at the start of the season was to win the national championship. Going to the NIT is unacceptable.''
Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.
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