The Mountaineers are coming off a huge conference win against the 11th ranked Oklahoma State Cowgirls. Now they face another tough opponent in the 7th ranked Baylor Lady Bears on Wednesday night. Both teams are very different from last year, and the Mountaineer women will need to take advantage of a still formidable Lady Bear team without Brittney Griner.
Asya Bussie, who is averaging 14.3 points per game, will need to bring her A game if the Mountaineers want to keep the Lady Bears on the ropes. Against Oklahoma State she had
12 points, four rebounds and three steals. Another top player for West Virginia is Bria Holmes. Holmes is averaging 14.1 ppg and was the top scorer for the Mountaineers against the Cowgirls with 21 points.
One huge offensive factor is the Mountaineers' ability to grab offensive rebounds, with 233 offensive rebounds on the season. If they want to upset another ranked team, getting offensive rebounds and second chance points is a requirement. Bussie leads the team with 43 offensive rebounds and Christal Caldwell is right behind with 32. Both of these players need to crash the boards on the offensive side and either put the ball back up or kick it out and set up a play.
One area that the Mountaineers have to work on is turnovers, with 217 so far this season. They cannot afford to turn the ball over at their current average of nearly 14.5 per game, if they want to score another win. The Lady Bears are very efficient at creating turnovers and they are even better at putting up points off these turnovers. Baylor has caused opponents to turn the ball over 256 times, with 107 of those being from steals. West Virginia has to keep the Baylor defenders away from them as much as possible while not committing offensive fouls.
On defense, the Mountaineers must harass the Lady Bears' offense, slowing them down and controlling the tempo of the game. Baylor has 162 turnovers on the season, but only 55 of those turnovers are from steals. Holmes and Bria Stepney lead West Virginia in steals, and both of them need to force the ball out to go on fast breaks or just get into the heads of the Baylor players.
With turnovers being key for the Mountaineers on defense, there is one player who they have to limit at all costs. That player is Odyssey Sims, who is averaging an incredible 30.8 points per game. In Baylor's last game against Kansas she put up 30 points alone, and that’s not even the most she has had this year. In their loss to Kentucky earlier this season Sims put up an astounding 47 points. The Mountaineers are going to have to double team her as well as trap her and force her to turn the ball over.
The Mountaineers have their work cut out for them and winning this game will all come down to how the defense plays. If West Virginia can play effectively when they don’t have the ball then they could pull off another upset of a ranked Big 12 opponent. Even though Baylor isn’t known for turning the ball over a lot, if West Virginia can even force them to take bad shots then that too can play to their advantage.
Prediction: WVU-68 Baylor-75
WVU Player of the Game: Bria Holmes 17 points 6 rebounds 4 assists
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