Published: March 21, 2008 11:35 pm         

West Virginia women hopeful at New Mexico today

MORGANTOWN — “I think we’re prepared to play well,” coach Mike Carey said as 17th-ranked West Virginia headed for its first-round game against New Mexico in the 2008 women’s NCAA basketball tournament.

“It’s just a matter of going out there, being focused and playing hard.”

The fifth-seeded Mountaineers and the 12th-seeded Lobos will meet at 8:30 p.m. (EDT) today in The Pit on the New Mexico campus in Albuquerque, N.M. A crowd of more than 13,000 is expected for what, in effect, is a road game for WVU.

ESPN2 will televise the game.

West Virginia sports a 24-7 record, and New Mexico is 20-12.

“This is another opportunity for us to play before a large crowd, even though they won’t be rooting for us,” Carey said. “Hopefully, those fans out there will get our players excited. We’ve faced that before at Connecticut and some other places.”

He thinks one of the keys is for his players to get off to a quick start against the Lobos.

“Hopefully, that would enable us to catch their fans sitting on their hands a little bit,” he said.

Olayinka Sanni, 6-foot-2 senior center, is anxious to play against New Mexico.

“They have a big player who can shoot from the perimeter,” she said. “We’re well-rested, and we’ve had time to work on some things we haven’t been doing well on lately.”

Sanni is averaging 16.5 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. LaQuita Owens is next at 13.7 ppg, followed by Meg Bulger at 12.8 and Chakhia Cole at 10.3. Point guard Ashley Powell leads the playmaking with 4.4 assists per game.

New Mexico is led by Dionne Marsh, who’s averaging 15.8 points and 6.2 rebounds. Amy Beggin is next at 10.9 and 3.5. Brandi Kimble has a team-high 7.2 rebounding average to go with a 10.3 scoring gait.

Team-wise, West Virginia is outscoring opponents 67.5 ppg to 59.9, shooting 45.3 percent from the field to 35.1, and maintaining a 37.3-34.5 edge in rebounds.

New Mexico is averaging 62.8 points while limiting opponents to 52.8. It is shooting only 39.9 percent from the field to foes’ 36.5 and averaging 38.1 rebounds to 33.2.

WVU is making its fifth trip to the NCAA tournament, and a victory would even its record therein at 4-4.

The WVU-New Mexico winner will play the winner of tonight’s Vanderbilt (23-8) vs. Montana (25-8) game Monday night.