West Virginia women draw No. 7 Arizona in NCAA Tournament
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West Virginia’s women’s basketball team is going dancing.
The Mountaineers (19-11) earned the No. 10 seed for the NCAA Tournament and will play No. 7 Arizona (21-9) on Friday in College Park, Md.
Led by first-year coach Dawn Plitzuweit, the Mountaineers finished the regular season 10-8 in conference play and posted three key wins over Kansas State, Oklahoma State and Baylor. They lost to Oklahoma State in the Big 12 quarterfinals Friday.
“The opportunity to continue playing in the NCAA Tournament is incredibly special,” Plitzuweit told wvusports.com. “I am so very proud of our young ladies and our staff for how hard they have worked all season. We are also excited for Mountaineer Nation and hope to see a lot of our fans on Friday as we take on Arizona.”
West Virginia is led by guards JJ Quinerly and Madisen Smith, who each average 14.3 points. Guard Jayla Hemingway adds 9.3 ppg.
Arizona finished tied for fourth in the Pac-12 and lost to UCLA last Thursday in the Pac-12 Tournament.
The Wildcats are led by guard Shaina Pellington (13.3 ppg), forward Cate Reese (12.6 ppg) and Jade Loville (10.2 ppg). They have lost three straight games.
The winner of Friday’s game will play the winner of No. 2 Maryland (25-6) and No. 15 Holy Cross (24-8) on March 19.