Women Hoops
Go to WNIT Tournament
By Phil Caskey
Not to be outdone by the men’s team, the WVU women’s basketball team posted yet another successful season in 2004–05 under the direction of fourth-year coach Mike Carey.
The Mountaineers advanced to the WNIT postseason championship game and finished the season with a 21–13 record, marking the first time in school history WVU tallied back-to-back 20 win campaigns and successive postseason appearances. WVU won four postseason contests—the most in school history—and set a school record with 206 three-point field goals.
West Virginia also posted a successful home stand in the friendly confines of the WVU Coliseum with a 14–3 record in which WVU reached a perfect 9–0 mark against non-conference foes. Under Carey, WVU is now 22–0 all-time against nonconference opponents at home.
Meg Bulger, a WBCA/Kodak honorable mention All-American, became the school’s first-ever all-Big East first team performer as a unanimous selection by a vote of the league’s coaches. She became the first Mountaineer (male or female) to lead the league in scoring with a 19.5 ppg average, and she also posted a league-best 16 20-point games. Her 663 points on the year marked just the 16th occurrence in school history that either a male or female Mountaineer scored 600 or more points in a season.
Yolanda Paige, an all-Big East second team performer and an Associated Press honorable mention All-American, led the nation in assists at 8.7 per contest, and finished her career with 902 assists, seventh all-time in NCAA history. She also set the WVU single game assists record with 18 against Northwestern last year and shattered her own single-season record with 297 dishes.
Paige capped the tremendously successful Mountaineer season by being drafted with 16th overall selection in the 2005 WNBA draft by the Indiana Fever. She became the first Mountaineer in school history to play in that league when she made the final roster of 11 prior to the beginning of the season in May.
Jones Pins a Great Collegiate Career
By Tim Goodenow
Greg Jones, four-year letterman from Slickville, Pennsylvania, has closed out one of the top athletic careers in WVU’s history.
Jones became just the 39th wrestler in NCAA history to win three national titles and only the 20th wrestler in NCAA history to win multiple national titles at different weight classes. Because he was so dominant in winning his third national title, Jones was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler. He is the first and only EWL grappler to earn that honor and finished the season with another undefeated season at 25-0.
“Greg is more than deserving of the award,” said head coach Craig Turnbull. “He has dominated his weight class for the past two seasons. Greg has worked very hard to get to this point of his career. What he has done for our University, the league, and the sport is somewhat immeasurable. I am very proud to have coached such a classy wrestler and even better person.”
The sport behavior major also has earned numerous academic honors. Jones won the 2005 Red Brown Cup, presented annually to WVU’s most outstanding all-around student-athlete, in terms of athletic, academic, and civic achievement. Winners are selected by the WVU Athletic Council.