Chania Ray, a Florida State transfer, sat quietly at the end of WVU's bench during the Mountaineers' 66-60 victory over Marshall on Sunday at Charleston's Civic Center.
She apparently wanted to check out her team, which she'll be running from the point guard position shortly. ("She'll be eligible for the Florida [Sunshine Classic on Dec. 20]," said WVU coach Mike Carey.)
Ray nervously bit her nails - appropriate during the nail-biter. But she also had her eyes opened on many fronts. All attending the game did on one front or another.
Let us count the ways.
First, the game set up as a showcase for Mountaineer guard Bria Holmes, an all-Big 12 performer who has been projected as a Top 10 player for the next WNBA draft. It was expected to be a showcase because both West Virginia and Marshall have many young players on their rosters.
In the end, Holmes had nice double-double of points (12) and assists (10). She suffered a foul to the face that left her with a black eye. (MU coach Matt Daniel checked it out in the postgame and gave her encouragement.)
Yet in the postgame comments, Daniel surprisingly poked at Holmes in favor of another Mountaineer: Tynice Martin, a 5-foot-10 freshman who wound up as WVU's leading scorer.
"[Martin] didn't surprise me," Daniel said. "I think she's the most talented player on the roster."
If that didn't raise eyebrows, Daniel reiterated the remark, calling her the Mountaineers' "most dangerous."
Now, Martin was one of the nation's Top 40 wing players coming out of high school, where she played in a Georgia state championship game for Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy. But WVU's most dangerous?
Carey shrugged.
"Well, she is," he said. "We think she's going to be a really good player. We think we have two or three freshmen that have a chance to be really good - and we're excited about our young players.
"You have to understand, 11 of our 15 players are new on this squad. The communication isn't there. The execution isn't there. But I think [Martin] is going to be a great player for us. I think Katrina Pardee has a chance to be a great player. Alexis Brewer didn't get a chance to play for us because she had a concussion, but I think we have three or four freshmen that are very good."
Martin looked confused at times Sunday, especially in some offensive sets, yet she displayed a very sweet stroke.
"Yes, and she can attack the rim very well," Carey said. "Sometimes she forgets that because she loves the stroke a little more. And she can rebound well. Those are things we have to keep working on."
But better than Holmes?
"Well, Bria Holmes is making people around her better," Carey said. "She attracts so much attention and this year she's not forcing it. Those around her are benefiting from that. But, yeah, I don't know..."
The other eye-opener for Ray and fans of the Capital Classic was the vast improvement of Marshall's hoops team. Daniel has done a very nice job turning the Thundering Herd program around. Leah Scott, who led all scorers Sunday with 24, is a gem and her teammates display a don't-back-down style that's admirable.
"I like the style we play," said Daniel. "I think you can tell from the green in the stands we've become a product that's worth watching."
No kidding. And while on the subject of those in the stands, Kanawha Valley fans deserve kudos for their showing. A listed 3,173 made the game and provided a fine environment.
"It was a great atmosphere," Carey said.
"I thought the environment was great," added Daniel.
Indeed, Marshall's home attendance was listed at an average of 2,185 before Sunday. A "Jam the Cam" promotion, however, was tossed into the figures. If you subtract that, MU's team has been averaging 1,535.
WVU, meanwhile, has averaged 1,574 fans per game at the Coliseum.
So add it all together. You had some nail biting. You had some eye opening.
You had quite a nice afternoon at the Civic Center.