MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (Jan. 4, 2025) – The No. 18-ranked West Virginia University women's basketball team collected its second straight Big 12 Conference home win of the new year with a, 66-53, victory over BYU on Saturday evening inside the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown.
The Mountaineers trailed at halftime for just the second time this season and gritted out a comeback win over the Cougars. West Virginia converted on 34.7 percent of its shots in the game but used a 31-8 advantage in turnovers to produce 28 extra shots in securing the win. From those turnovers, WVU scored 33 points and held a 14-5 advantage on the offensive glass.
Senior guard JJ Quinerly scored in double figures (19) for the 14th time in as many games this season. She added five assists and five steals. Senior guard Kyah Watson narrowly missed a double-double with 10 points, nine rebounds and three steals.
Junior forward Celia Riviere finished with a career-high seven rebounds and added six points. Freshman Jordan Thomas added nine points and six rebounds as fifth year forward Kylee Blacksten had nine points and junior guard Sydney Shaw added seven points and three steals and three rebounds.
The Mountaineers found open looks from three early, knocking down three attempts to a 10-9 lead at the first media timeout. Quinerly, Blacksten and Watson cashed in from beyond the arc as Quinerly added a free throw for a one-point lead at the media timeout. The Cougars held the Mountaineers to a 1-of-9 mark from the floor the rest of the frame to lead 20-13 after the first.
Trailing by seven early in the second, Shaw cashed in on two floaters in the lane and a step back three, to level the score at 22. The surge forced the Cougars into an early timeout with three minutes gone. WVU finished the final seven minutes just 2-of-12 from the floor, but timely threes from Blacksten and Quinerly at the buzzer saw the Mountaineers down just two points, 30-28, at the break.
The Mountaineers came out of the break and hit two threes, the first from Blacksten and the second from Watson to take its first lead of the game since the first quarter. BYU tied the game at 34 before six straight points from Quinerly pushed WVU back in front to a 40-34 lead. The Cougars would trim the WVU lead down to two points at the media timeout. West Virginia limited BYU to just one made field goal across the final four minutes of the frame to lead 49-42.
West Virginia scored 10 straight points early in the fourth to push its lead to its largest of the contest at 59-44 with three minutes gone. The WVU defense forced the Cougars into five turnovers and limited BYU to just four field goal attempts over the opening five minutes. The takeaways allowed WVU to attack the hoop and hoist 12 attempts, eight more than their counterparts, early in the fourth to build their lead.
Out of the final media timeout, BYU mounted one final scoring run stringing together seven points to trim the WVU advantage to eight points at 59-51. The Mountaineers took back control to push its lead out to 13 points when the final buzzer rang.
The margin of victory marks the 12th time this season West Virginia has defeated an opponent by double digits.
The Mountaineers are now 2-1 all-time in the series and collect their first win against the Cougars inside the WVU Coliseum. WVU is now 2-0 all-time in Big 12 Conference play against the against BYU.
Quinerly currently sits 11th in points at 1,607, and behind Hall of Famer Liz Repella (2008-11) with 1,641. She is also tied for 6th in steals with Alexis Basil (1984-87) with 268.
West Virginia is now on the road for its next two contests, opening play on Wednesday, Jan. 8, against Texas Tech. Tipoff in Lubbock is set for 7 p.m. ET.
