Mar 22, 2026 By Justin Jackson 4 min read

If there were any nerves about hosting the NCAA tournament for the first time in 34 years, the 11th-ranked WVU women’s basketball team forgot to show it Saturday.

Instead, the fourth-seeded Mountaineers played more the role of a conqueror. In front of a packed Hope Coliseum crowd of 13,504 – thousands of which were lined up outside and around the arena more than four hours before tip-off – WVU was relentless, determined and destructive on its way to an 82-54 victory against 13th-seeded Miami (Ohio).

“I thought we settled in pretty quickly,” WVU head coach Mark Kellogg said. “In the third quarter was when we really got it going and were at our best.”

With the win, WVU (28-6) advanced to Monday’s second-round game against No. 16 and fifth-seeded Kentucky, who took care of James Madison, 71-56, in the earlier game on Saturday.

Monday’s game will also be played in Morgantown. It will have a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line.

“We’ll move forward and know we have to play a little bit better, probably,” Kellogg continued. “We got the first one out of the way and we feel pretty good about that.”

The Mountaineers should. Think about this for a moment, WVU shot 50.8% (32 of 63) from the field and 50% (7 of 14) from 3-point range in the same game. That’s actually not an anomaly for the Mountaineers. It’s the third time that’s happened in a game this season.

And after the RedHawks (28-7), who were making their first trip to the NCAA tournament since 2008, took a brief 14-11 lead in the first quarter, West Virginia simply dominated from there.

“We just had to keep going and we kept telling each other to stick to what we know,” said WVU forward Kierra Wheeler, who finished with 14 points and nine rebounds. “They went on a run, but we had to keep playing at our pace and keep playing as a team.”

WVU finished with four players in double figures, none maybe as impressive as senior guard Sydney Shaw, who finished with 19 points and nine rebounds.

“She was really really good,” Kellogg said. “I don’t think her game changed. We’ve seen it before, maybe not as much as we would want at times, but she was aggressive and found different ways to score. She had the two and-ones at least and got fouled on a three. The rebounding was huge.”

The lead kept growing in bunches, and by the time Jordan Harrison beat the buzzer and nailed a lay-up to end the third quarter, WVU’s lead was up to 28 points and Harrison – who stands all of 5-foot-6 – gave the too-small signal on her way back to the bench.

“Yeah, it’s March,” said Harrison, who added 15 points and eight assists. “All the emotions, all the feels, they’re there. I was just happy to see the ball go in, to be quite honest.”

WVU’s defense held Miami to just 39.2% (20 of 51) from the floor. The RedHaws entered the game as the second-best 3-point shooting team from the Mid-American Conference, but made just 7 of 20 from behind the arc.

“We ran into a buzzsaw today,” Miami head coach Glenn Box said. “We ran into a really good team. They were well-balanced today. They hit us with a lot of different things. Our kids fought, they competed for 40 minutes. It wasn’t our day.”

Gia Cooke added 18 points for the Mountaineers, who are now in the second round of the NCAAs for the third consecutive season. WVU hasn’t advanced past the second round since 1992, which was also the last time a regional of the national tournament was played in Morgantown.

“This felt good, but it’s behind us,” Wheeler said. “We’ve got goals to finish and I think we’ve done a good job this year of putting everything we accomplished behind us, because we know we’re hungry for more.”