Meg Bulger came back from a stubborn left knee injury to lead the Mountaineers past a stubborn Providence team 63-60. Yinka Sanni led the team with 20 points while LaQuita Owens scored 18. Providence guard Kendria Holmes had a career day against us. She scored 28 points as she nearly single-handily upset the 12th ranked team in the nation. West Virginia struggles may have prevented them from being in that elusive Top Ten spot but it would’ve been a lot worse as far as positioning and seeding will go in the postseason. Did they look ahead to Pitt? Can’t blame them if they do. Did the six-day layoff effect their steam-rolling momentum? Perhaps. A loss today to the Friars would have been an absolute embarrassment as they try to keep up with UCONN, Rutgers, even Pitt.

West Virginia got off to a hot start with an 11-3 lead at the 16-minute mark. Then they apparently forgot how to play solid basketball. In turn, Providence outscored the Eers 16-2 in the next 9 and a half minutes to take a 19-13 lead. WVU fought back to tie the game at 24 but Holmes sank a trey as time expired in the first half to give the Friars a 29-25 halftime lead. Holmes scored 17 points in the first half as WVU were outrebounded 20-10.

In the second half, West Virginia tried to keep up with the Friars tying the game at 32 but the Friars started to torch the nets on a repeated basis. Ashley Etheridge’s trey give the Friars a 38-32 lead. WVU struggled to consistently get good possessions especially on defense. The threes kept falling for Providence. Brittany Dorsey’s three gave the Friars their biggest lead at 46-38 in the midway point of the second half. Things didn’t look promising for the Mounties. WVU started to play physical as they either drove toward the hoop or dished the ball off to Sanni. The end result was that the fouls started to mount. In the end three Providence players fouled out. West Virginia went to the foul line 24 times in the second half making 18 shots. Sanni alone shot 15 foul shots making 8. Their foul shooting got them right back in the game.

Bulger would ultimately decide the game for the Eers as she hit her first trey in weeks to give the Eers a hard-earned 54-51 lead with 4:22 left. Bulger made some key defensive plays to keep them ahead but the play of the game was when the Eers led by only one with 35 seconds remaining. Sparkle Davis missed the three, on the loose ball Bulger, as she fell on her back, got the rebound and lasered a two-handed pass to a wide-open Chakhia Cole for the lay-up AND ONE. Cole made her free throw and it appeared to be over when Repella was fouled off the rebound. Shockingly, Repella missed her 2 foul shots. Holmes got fouled while trying to shoot the three. Holmes made all three of her shots to cut the lead to one once again. Davis drained her 2 free throws with 4.8 seconds left and Providence could not get the shot off in time.

West Virginia now has a record of 19-3 with an 8-1 mark in the Big East. Providence falls to 11-11 and a dreadful 1-8 in the conference. All right fans we need every one of you to attend the ladies version of the Backyard Brawl Wednesday night at the Coliseum. Think about it if 6,300 sPitt fans can attend a game there why not have about 7,000 here at the Coliseum? If you students don’t have mid-terms to deal with then fill the mofo student section. This women’s team needs every one of you there. sPitt’s got our number in the most brutalised of fashion. It’s payback time and I’m sure to be there WILL YOU?