The wait is over: Kysre Gondrezick, West Virginia set to play Lehigh in first round of the NCAA tournament

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Five years was Kysre Gondrezick’s wait.

Five years, 90 games, two schools, 1,474 points and around 45 pounds to be more precise.

That’s what it took for West Virginia’s sharpshooting senior guard to play in her first NCAA tournament game, which will happen at 8 p.m. Sunday, when the fourth-seeded Mountaineers (21-6) play Lehigh (10-5) in the first round in San Antonio.

“This is a great accomplishment four our team and what I wanted to happen for my senior year,” she said.

WVU STATS
LEHIGH STATS

As it generally is with any journey, there’s more to Gondrezick’s story than just the numbers, although her numbers are hard to ignore.

She’s averaging 19.9 points per game as a senior and needs 18 today to reach 1,000 for her WVU career (she scored 494 points as a freshman at Michigan).

Gondrezick began the season sort of off the radar, as an honorable mention selection in the preseason by the Big 12.

She finished the regular season as a first-team selection.

Why the original oversight?

Well, the Big 12 coaches didn’t see the focus, determination and transformation Gondrezick had in the summer.

They didn’t see the 12-hour days spent working out that generally began at 6 a.m. during the summer.

They didn’t see the 45 pounds Gondrezick lost during the crazy COVID-19 pandemic days when the rest of the world was seemingly shut down.

“I’ve never had a player do a transformation to that extent,” WVU head coach Mike Carey said. “I’ve had people come back in better shape. I’ve had people who worked on their game. She did both.”

They didn’t see Gondrezick’s drive created by missed opportunities in the past.

Her freshman season at Michigan ended prematurely. As the Wolverines were getting set to play in the WNIT in 2017, Gondrezick left the program looking for a fresh start.

After sitting out a season, because of NCAA transfer rules, her first season at West Virginia ended after just five games, due to injury and personal reasons.

Then the Big 12 tournament was canceled by the pandemic last season, eliminating WVU’s final chance of playing in the NCAA tournament in 2020.

A heartbreaking chapter was also written earlier this season, when Gondrezick’s father, Grant Gondrezick, passed away unexpectedly.

She scored 24 points and added five assists in a blowout win against Texas on Jan. 9, just two days after her father died.

“Especially this year, with the loss of my dad and the pandemic, it means even more,” Gondrezick said of the opportunity that awaits WVU today. “A lot of work has gone into achieving this and we want to play as long as we can.”

And that sets up what could be one final magical chapter for Gondrezick and the Mountaineers.

Since the NCAA expanded the women’s tournament to 64 teams in 1994, the Mountaineers have never made it past the second round.

The bond between Gondrezick and Carey is strong. When Carey was announced as a semifinalist for the Naismith Women’s Basketball college coach of the year award, Gondrezick proclaimed that he was already her “Naismith coach of the year.”

Helping get Carey and the Mountaineers over that second-round hump and into the Sweet 16 would be a memorable end to her long journey.

“We have a talented team,”Gondrezick said. “I am excited to see how far we can go. I’m grateful to see all of my hard work paying off.”

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