After getting outscored 26-17 in the second quarter, West Virginia was never able to fully get back into the game in their 69-57 loss to Penn State on the road on Sunday.
Things started off well for the Mountaineers in one of their first true road tests of the season. West Virginia used back-to back three-pointers from JJ Quinerly to take an early 6-2 advantage over the Nittany Lions. Quinerly would hit a jumper to add another two points for the Mountaineers, scoring the first six points of the game for West Virginia.
Penn State would keep pace with the Mountaineers early, as they trailed by no more than five in the first quarter. West Virginia would ultimately take a 14-13 lead into the second quarter.
In the second quarter, West Virginia’s offense went cold, while Penn State took full advantage.
Within the first 4:30 of the second quarter, Penn State went on an 11-0 run, with Leilan Kapinus and Shay Cieski scoring all 11 of those points. On the evening, the two would score a combined 29 points for Penn State.
West Virginia would finally get on the board in the second quarter at the 5:15 mark, with Quinerly hitting a jumper. She would finish the afternoon with a team-high 16 points.
The Mountaineers would continue to fight back in the latter half of the second quarter though, going on an 8-0 run and cutting the Penn State lead to three with 2:47 remaining until halftime.
West Virginia would be unable to fully recover though, with Penn State scoring the final five points of the second quarter, and taking an eight-point lead into halftime.
That would be where Penn State generally kept West Virginia, as the Mountaineers could not trailed by 13, but went on a 9-0 run to trail by four with 3:30 left in the third quarter.
Four points would be the closest West Virginia would get for the final 13:30 of the game. Penn State went on a 7-0 run over the final 1:33 of the third quarter, and then scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to lead by 16.
West Virginia’s Jayla Hemingway and Madisen Smith added 11 and 12 points respectively. The Mountaineers turned the ball over 15 times on the afternoon, leading to 20 points for Penn State.
The Mountaineers hot 36% from the field, while Penn State shot 49% from the field.
West Virginia will have a week off before heading to the West Palm Beach Invitational on Dec. 20 to face Georgia and Dec. 21 to face Miami of Ohio.
Photo by Wesley Shoemaker, Blue Gold Sports
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