West Virginia-Vanderbilt Preview

3/23/2008 4:37 PM

By BRETT HUSTON
STATS Writer

West Virginia was a surprise visitor to the second round of the NCAA tournament last season, beating a higher seed to open the tournament.

This season, playing the role of the favorite early on, it was nearly victimized by a surprise.

The fifth-seeded Mountaineers, who needed a late basket to survive an upset bid in the first round, will try to advance to their first-ever regional semifinals on Monday in Albuquerque, N.M., when they face fourth-seeded Vanderbilt.

West Virginia (25-7) was seeded 11th a year ago and knocked off sixth-seeded Xavier in the tournament's first round before giving third-seeded LSU - the region's eventual winner - its toughest game on its road to the Final Four in a 49-43 loss to the Tigers.

The Mountaineers' strong regular season - they finished 12-4 in the Big East, behind only national heavyweights Connecticut and Rutgers - earned them a No. 5 seed, but their first-round matchup was a road game as they faced 12th-seeded New Mexico in Albuquerque.

West Virginia got a late go-ahead jumper from Chakhia Cole - who scored a game-high 22 points - as it held on to win 61-60.

"I think I was holding my breath because I was dizzy by the time the buzzer went off," coach Mike Carey said after the frantic final minutes.

Vanderbilt (24-8) had no such trouble dispatching its first-round opponent. The Commodores led 13th-seeded Montana by 23 at halftime en route to a 75-47 victory.

Five Vanderbilt players scored at least nine points and no one played more than 30 minutes.

"We were well prepared," said forward Christina Wirth, who had 13 points. "That's always a focus for us in every game. We did a good job of executing and coming out and being the aggressor."

Wirth is the Commodores' leading scorer, averaging 12.9 points, but she had been struggling heading into the NCAA tournament. She shot just 4-for-18 (22.2 percent) and averaged 4.5 points in a pair of games in the SEC tournament, as Vanderbilt was eliminated in the second round by No. 3 Tennessee - its third loss to the Lady Vols this season.

Vanderbilt only allows 56.3 points per game, second in the SEC and among the top 30 in the country. The Commodores' defense has been even better in their last six games, as they've yielded just 52.3 per game.

West Virginia also relies heavily on its defense to win games. The Mountaineers give up just 56.1 points per contest, but they've been allowing more recently, letting opponents score an average of 64.8 in their last six games.

"As we defend is usually how our offense goes," Carey said.

Perhaps the biggest key for both teams will be their shooting from beyond the arc. Both Vanderbilt (38.5 percent) and West Virginia (37.8 percent) are among the nation's top 15 from 3-point range.

Wirth leads the SEC at 42.1 percent, and guard Merideth Marsh has hit 44.3 percent of her 3-pointers in her last 10 games.

The Mountaineers' best shooter is forward Meg Bulger, who connects on 45.5 percent from beyond the arc - seventh-best in the country.

The winner will advance to Spokane, Wash., to play either top-seeded Maryland or eighth-seeded Nebraska in Saturday's regional semifinals.