Published: March 07, 2008 12:21 am         

No. 14 WVU women need quick turnaround

MORGANTOWN — West Virginia needs a quick turnaround to advance in the Big East Women’s Basketball Championship this weekend at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn.

The 14th-ranked Mountaineers have lost two of their last three games and three of the last six, including a 73-51 shellacking at Syracuse in the regular-season finale. But they’re going into the tournament with a 23-6 record and seeded No. 3 for a first-round bye.

In the quarterfinals at 8 p.m. Sunday, West Virginia will meet the winner of Saturday’s opening-round nightcap between No. 6 Syracuse (22-7) and No. 11 South Florida (15-14).

“We’ve just got to get refocused and play with energy,” coach Mike Carey said Thursday on the Big East media teleconference. “I think when we play with energy, we’re pretty good. When we don’t, we’re very average.

“We’re just not playing as well right as we have been. Maybe we can go to the tournament and turn things around a little bit. It all comes down to you’ve got to get lucky and catch people on an off night when they’re not shooting well or you get somebody in foul trouble.

“There are a lot of things that can occur.”

The seven seniors on this year’s WVU team know all about that from experience. Two years ago, the Mountaineers lost their final eight games of regular season, but then upset Louisville, St. John’s and Rutgers in as many days before bowing to Connecticut 50-44 in the championship contest.

Despite that miraculous tournament runner-up finish, the team still posted a losing 15-16 record. A year ago, WVU was upset by Louisville in its first tournament game, 68-56, but reached the second round of the NCAA tourney.

Carey said it doesn’t matter to him whether Syracuse or South Florida will be the opponent Sunday night.

“Every team in the tournament is a great team,” he reasoned. “When you get to tournament time, you can’t pick or choose who you want to play.

“Every team is playing well right now. So whether we play Syracuse or South Florida, it’s my job to get our girls ready to play, and I think I can do a better job of that.”

He does think South Florida is playing extremely well. The Bulls edged Pitt 65-64 at home last Saturday, and two nights later won at Marquette 61-56 in the regular-season finale.