Somewhat fresh off zipping through the top three seeds and winning the Big 12 tournament, the 22nd-ranked West Virginia women’s basketball team begins its NCAA tournament in College Park, Maryland. WVU (23-10), the No. 6 seed in the Bridgeport region, will play 11th-seeded Elon at 2:30 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN2.

If you haven’t seen her before or if you can’t wait to again, have a look at sophomore Tynice Martin. Remember, she’s really good!

She finished in double-figure scoring in the first 21 games of this season and averages a Big 12-best 18.6 points entering today’s contest. She really came into her own during WVU’s run through the Big 12 tournament, scoring 21 points against Oklahoma, 29 against Texas and a championship-game-record 32 in knocking off Baylor for the crown.

She was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player and her 27.3 points per game over those three contests were the third-highest average in tournament history. Quite a role, but really nothing new for the big-time scorer who, don’t forget, was the Big 12’s freshman of the year and a finalist for USWBA National Freshman of the Year a season ago.

“I’m all about confidence, and if you have confidence, you can pretty much do anything,” Martin said. “I’m very big on confidence and pride.”

The Mountaineers are confident entering Friday’s game, but have a solid opponent in the Phoenix (27-6). Elon is in the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history after a couple of program firsts — Elon’s first Colonial Athletic Association regular-season and tournament titles. The Phoenix have a trio of triple-digit scorers, guards Shay Burnett (12.1 points per game) and Lauren Brown (12.0) and forward Jenifer Rhodes (11.0). Burnett is an All-CAA first-teamer, while Rhodes made the third team.

Martin and the Mountaineers are confident, but won’t be careless. Martin doesn’t want the feeling of what she and her teammates have accomplished so far to fade too soon.

“It’s been great,” Martin said. “Honestly, I never even thought about having this type of feeling, of making history, of walking down the hall and people coming up and saying congratulations. I just hope we can humble ourselves and go far in the NCAAs.”