Defense aids WVU women's basketball amid shooting woes in 82
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — It is getting increasingly difficult to play disciplined offense against the West Virginia Mountaineers at the WVU Coliseum.
No. 15 WVU (3-0) remained unbeaten with a 82-54 win over Pitt (2-1) in the 49th meeting between the two programs. The Mountaineers forced 30 turnovers for the third consecutive game to open the season.
WVU has also won seven consecutive meetings against Pitt.
Tuesday night's game started on a somewhat somber note as Pitt guard Amiya Jenkins suffered what appeared to be a serious knee injury less than two minutes into the matchup. Jenkins entered the game as Pitt's second leading scorer, averaging 14.5 points in the Panthers' first two games of the year.
WVU and Pitt struggled to shoot early in Tuesday night's game. Both teams shot under 40% from the field, both in the first half and in the game as a whole.
In a sloppy first quarter, WVU and Pitt also turned the ball over six times each as WVU took a 12-9 lead just before the first quarter break. Guard Jordan Harrison and forward Kylee Blacksten both logged three points in the opening 10 minutes, but WVU failed to find any rhythm against Pitt's two-three zone.
The Mountaineers seemed to hit their stride early in the second quarter. Head coach Mark Kellogg's crew opened the frame on a 9-2 run in which they also forced three turnovers in less than a two-minute span.
At this point, All-Big 12 guard JJ Quinerly settled in. She logged nine points in the second quarter after going 1 for 7 from the field in the first quarter, and she also added three rebounds and a pair of steals as WVU extended its lead to 10 points in a 35-25 game at halftime.
WVU held the Panthers to just nine made field goals on 29 shots in the first half. The Mountaineers also forced 15 turnovers by halftime.
The third quarter followed many of the same first-half trends. WVU and Pitt both shot exactly 40% from the field, and WVU maintained a double-digit lead on the back of Quinerly.
Before Tuesday, Quinerly had not attempted more than 24 field-goal attempts in a game at WVU. She was 7 for 23 from the field Tuesday night with a game-high 17 points. All 23 attempts came in the first three quarters.
Meanwhile, Pitt center Khadija Faye, who entered the game as Pitt's leading scorer, recorded her fourth foul of the night and was relegated to the bench for the back end of the quarter. Faye started the fourth quarter, but she fouled out less than two minutes into the frame when Harrison drew a charge on Faye in the lane. She exited with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
WVU ran away with the game in the fourth quarter, partially by eclipsing their previous three-quarter total of three pointers with four threes. The Mountaineers went 2 for 21 from deep in the first three quarters of the game. Sydney Shaw went 3 for 6 on three-pointers in the fourth quarter alone.
Shaw (11 points) and Harrison (14 points) also both reached double figures in the fourth quarter.
WVU remains at home for a Power-Four matchup against Texas A&M (2-1) Friday night at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
