ORLANDO, Fla. (Jan. 13, 2024) – Highlighted by junior guard JJ Quinerly’s 1,000-point milestone, the West Virginia University women's basketball team defeated Central Florida, 76-59, on Saturday afternoon, inside the Addition Financial Arena in Orlando.
With her bucket at the 53-second mark of the fourth quarter, Quinerly tallied her 1,000th career point, becoming the 40th player in program history to accomplish the feat. The Norfolk, Virginia, native is the fourth Mountaineer in the last four seasons to reach the career milestone at WVU, joining Madisen Smith (2019-23) Kari Niblack (2019-22) and Kysre Gondrezick (2018-21). Quinerly finished with a game-high 21 points.
The Mountaineers had two other players contribute double-digit efforts to the scoring attack, including sophomore guard Jordan Harrison (19) and fifth-year senior guard Lauren Fields (13).
Quinerly added a team-leading four assists as redshirt junior guard Kyah Watson led WVU in rebounds with six. Harrison and Watson each collected three steals.
Defensively, West Virginia forced 26 Knight turnovers, reaching 20-plus for the 15th time this season, and tallied 13 steals. WVU turned those miscues into 28 points as WVU outscored UCF 36-24 in the paint.
UCF jumped out to a 5-2 lead before an 8-0 WVU run pushed the Mountaineers in front by five with six minutes to play in the opening quarter. Harrison and Quinerly each converted and-1’s to help push WVU into the lead.
West Virginia extended its lead to seven points, 14-7, but the Knights were able to level the score after scoring seven straight points. WVU scored five more points in the quarter before a last-second UCF layup cut the Mountaineer lead to 19-16 after 10 minutes.
The Knights took the lead over the opening three minutes of the second, outscoring WVU 5-1 to a 21-20 advantage. WVU rattled off seven straight points to quickly regain the lead. West Virginia maintained that six-point advantage into halftime, leading 35-29.
WVU raced out of the halftime locker room, scoring 15 points over the opening five minutes to a 50-33 advantage. Quinerly (6), senior forward Kylee Blacksten (5) and Fields (4) did all the scoring for the Mountaineers as WVU limited UCF to just four points over the span. West Virginia pushed its lead to 21 points with three minutes to play before taking a 58-38 lead into the final quarter.
Central Florida outscored the Mountaineers 21-18 in the final frames as WVU collected its third win in Big 12 Conference play.
West Virginia finished the game shooting 28-of-62 (45.2%) from the field and netted 14 second-chance points. The Mountaineers also assisted on 11 of their 28 makes. What’s more, five WVU players finished the game with multiple steals.
Next up, West Virginia returns home to take on Houston on Wednesday, Jan. 17, at the WVU Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on Big 12 Now. Additionally, fans can listen to the game on the Mountaineer Sports Network.
With her bucket at the 53-second mark of the fourth quarter, Quinerly tallied her 1,000th career point, becoming the 40th player in program history to accomplish the feat. The Norfolk, Virginia, native is the fourth Mountaineer in the last four seasons to reach the career milestone at WVU, joining Madisen Smith (2019-23) Kari Niblack (2019-22) and Kysre Gondrezick (2018-21). Quinerly finished with a game-high 21 points.
The Mountaineers had two other players contribute double-digit efforts to the scoring attack, including sophomore guard Jordan Harrison (19) and fifth-year senior guard Lauren Fields (13).
Quinerly added a team-leading four assists as redshirt junior guard Kyah Watson led WVU in rebounds with six. Harrison and Watson each collected three steals.
Defensively, West Virginia forced 26 Knight turnovers, reaching 20-plus for the 15th time this season, and tallied 13 steals. WVU turned those miscues into 28 points as WVU outscored UCF 36-24 in the paint.
UCF jumped out to a 5-2 lead before an 8-0 WVU run pushed the Mountaineers in front by five with six minutes to play in the opening quarter. Harrison and Quinerly each converted and-1’s to help push WVU into the lead.
West Virginia extended its lead to seven points, 14-7, but the Knights were able to level the score after scoring seven straight points. WVU scored five more points in the quarter before a last-second UCF layup cut the Mountaineer lead to 19-16 after 10 minutes.
The Knights took the lead over the opening three minutes of the second, outscoring WVU 5-1 to a 21-20 advantage. WVU rattled off seven straight points to quickly regain the lead. West Virginia maintained that six-point advantage into halftime, leading 35-29.
WVU raced out of the halftime locker room, scoring 15 points over the opening five minutes to a 50-33 advantage. Quinerly (6), senior forward Kylee Blacksten (5) and Fields (4) did all the scoring for the Mountaineers as WVU limited UCF to just four points over the span. West Virginia pushed its lead to 21 points with three minutes to play before taking a 58-38 lead into the final quarter.
Central Florida outscored the Mountaineers 21-18 in the final frames as WVU collected its third win in Big 12 Conference play.
West Virginia finished the game shooting 28-of-62 (45.2%) from the field and netted 14 second-chance points. The Mountaineers also assisted on 11 of their 28 makes. What’s more, five WVU players finished the game with multiple steals.
Next up, West Virginia returns home to take on Houston on Wednesday, Jan. 17, at the WVU Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on Big 12 Now. Additionally, fans can listen to the game on the Mountaineer Sports Network.
