What’s West Virginia’s future without Tynice Martin this season?
By Jada Butts
The West Virginia women’s basketball team made it official today: Tynice Martin will miss the remainder of the 2017-2018 season to recover from a foot injury sustained at USA basketball trials in August. Martin will redshirt this season and have two seasons of eligibility remaining.
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Before conference play started I took a deeper look into West Virginia, as they were entering league play with an undefeated record. Although they started the season 12-0, head coach Mike Carry spoke a lot about their lack of depth. Senior forward Teana Muldrow was leading this team, averaging 22 points and 8 rebounds, despite not having the 2017 Big 12 tournament MVP on the floor. Muldrow had help from Naomi Davenport who went off in her Big 12 debut with 32 points. Everything was looking good for the Mountaineers. They hadn’t yet run into a battle that they could not fight.
Until they traveled to Austin, Texas… Chania Ray, Naomi Davenport, and Teana Muldrow combined for 48 points out of the 58 that the team put up in the loss against the Longhorns that night. Adding a loss to their record did not mean that all hope was lost by any means. But it does seem that losses for the Mountaineers come in twos. Kansas State came to town and left with a 60-52 win. 13-2. Not bad.
West Virginia would go on to beat Iowa State and Kansas to add two more in the win column. But then, the team had to battle. A determined TCU team gutted out a 76-74 overtime win to beat the No.15 Mountaineers for the first time in Morgantown. And remember when I said the losses come in twos? Well, Oklahoma State added to that statistic with a 79-73 win at home.
What now?
You are 16-4 this season, 4-4 in conference and you get news that your All Big 12 player, Tynice Martin, will not be playing this season. I think the Mountaineers have nothing to fret about. They have had solid, consistent production from Martin, Davenport, and Ray. If they continue to get the numbers from those three, and each night another player steps up then I for-see more wins in their future. They are currently sitting in 5th place in league play with a lot more basketball to be played. Mike Carey has always found a way to motivate these girls to win games, so never count them out.