Storylines – West Virginia State GameThe final week of the season could be feast or famine for Head Coach David Smith's Yellow Jackets. West Virginia State enters its final two games just a game off fifth place in the standings but two games from dropping to ninth. Smith's squad leads the Mountain East Conference in field goal percentage at .367 and junior Rachel Ward is a big reason why. The Elkview, W.Va. product leads the MEC in 3-point field goal percentage at .464 nearly eight full points ahead of the next best shooter. Ward connected on two of four long range attempts in an 86-60 win over the Cavaliers earlier this season. The real story of the game was West Virginia State's shooting as a team. The Yellow Jackets made 32 of 57 field goal attempts in the win while shooting 85 percent from the charity stripe. A win by the Yellow Jackets would give them a 4-2 lead in the all-time series since the formation of the MEC. Following Thursday's contest, West Virginia State wraps up the regular season at the University of Charleston.
About UVa-WiseSeniors
Kehana Grayer and
Blair Harding will play their final regular season home game Thursday. While the duo has been with the women's basketball program just two seasons, each joining the team after highly successful junior college careers, the pair have left a mark on the program. Grayer will be making her 54th start in a Cavalier uniform against the Yellow Jackets and has amassed more than 300 points and 200 rebounds. Harding has led the team in scoring in each of her two seasons and earned First-Team All-MEC accolades following her junior season. In just 53 games, Harding has accumulated 813 points while averaging 15.3 points per game. As for the game, the Cavaliers are in do-or-die mode if they want to host an opening round conference tournament game. With two games to play, UVa-Wise stands a full game behind Charleston for the No. 8 seed in the upcoming tournament. The No. 8 seed is the last seed that will host an opening round contest. To be successful against the Yellow Jackets, the Cavs will have to get off to a better start than when the two teams faced off in Institute. In that game, West Virginia State blitzed UVa-Wise with a 30-8 run in the second quarter en route to an 86-60 win. A year ago, Harding scored 28 points in an 87-48 win over the Yellow Jackets in Wise.
