Meg Bulger and Yinka Sanni capped off Senior Day with 20 points each including 6 treys from Bulger as 13th-ranked West Virginia held on against star player Angel McCoughtry and the Louisville Cardinals 78-70 to clinch third-place in the Big East Conference. This win gives WVU the first-round bye for the second straight year. All seven seniors played for the Mountaineers which included a rare start by Kendra Goodley plus spirited play by Lateeyah Joye in a stretch the Eers needed the most when Sanni got four fouls early in the second half. McCoughtery rallied from a FG-less first half to score 29 points with 11 rebounds and five steals. WVU made just enough effort to carry a much-needed victory that almost didn’t happened.

When Bulger fired in three three-pointers in the first four minutes to give the Eers a 13-4 lead it appeared they would cruise but Louisville had other ideas as they played in-your-face defense with a knack for finding their way to the foul line. WVU was called for 13 team fouls in the first half. The Cards surely benefited as they shot 14 of 20 from the foul line. At one point, they outscored the Eers 25-4 in the next 9 minutes to take a commanding 29-17 lead. But Bulger and fellow senior Chakhia Cole fought back with a trey of their own to rally the Eers to a 32-31 halftime deficit.

McCoughtry woke up as she scored 22 of UL’s 38 second half points. It was West Virginia’s turn to hit foul shots which they did just as well. They were 17 of 22 from the foul line in the second half. The key moment of the game was when Sanni was called for the fourth foul with 13:52 left and WVU were down by 1. Joye, a Brooklyn native, answered the call as she scored 6 of the next eight unanswered Mountaineer points to take a 49-44 lead. Louisville wasn’t able to retake the lead from there. The WVU seniors gave everything they had on the court and that got them a first-round bye for next weekend.

While we won’t be thinking about this with the Backyard Brawl and all the Mountaineers will finish the regular season at Syracuse Monday night. Congregations Coach Mike Carey and the WVU women basketball team for a successful season at the Coliseum. The growing fan support thanks you for your effort. We can only hope for bigger and better things but one thing for certain the seven seniors of Bulger, Cole, Sanni, LaQuita Owens, Goodley, Joye, and Ranisha White havel leave an indelible mark to this program. On behalf of wvmountaineersports.com we say:

THANK YOU!