West Virginia seemed to be coasting to their fourth Big 12 win in the last five games, after making five three-pointers in the fourth quarter, but the Mountaineers only led by four with 32 seconds left after Texas Tech scored five points in five seconds.
West Virginia went 6 for 6 from the free throw line after that to secure the 67-57 win.
“I thought that was a really tough and gritty win for our young ladies,” West Virginia head coach Dawn Plitzuweit said. “I think Texas Tech does such a good job of playing really, really, hard and making things really difficult for you in so many different ways.”
West Virginia opened the first quarter struggling to find their stroke from beyond the arc. Four of West Virginia’s first six shots from the field were three-pointers, while West Virginia only made one of those three-point attempts.
It came from JJ Quinerly to tie the game at 4-4 after the Lady Raiders opened the game leading 4-0. West Virginia then took their first lead of the game off a Quinerly free throw after she made a contested layup in which she was fouled. A late three-pointer from Madisen Smith would help the Mountaineers get back in front late, as they took a 12-10 lead into the second quarter.
“I thought we got really good shots throughout. They started in a zone and kind of extended it,” Plitzuweit said of the Texas Tech defense. “We didn’t shoot the ball very well from the arc, but we made some timely shots.”
In the second, West Virginia opened on a 7-0 run, with Smith hitting another three-pointer as the Mountaineers’ lead ballooned to nine with 7:49 to play in the quarter. Texas Tech would get back into the game with a 7-0 run of their own, with seven of their nine points scored in the quarter coming on the run.
Ella Tofaeono scored six of the Lady Raiders’ nine points in the second quarter, with all her points coming close to the rim as she made three layups. The Mountaineers would score the final four points of the half and took a 25-19 lead into halftime.
Both teams would struggle to find consistent rhythm in the first half, a trend that would continue for the remainder of the game. The two teams combined for 19 turnovers in the first half, as well as combined to shoot 28.8 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes.
In the third, Texas Tech would find their footing offensively, while the Mountaineers looked to be destructing in the third quarter for the second consecutive game. West Virginia scored only two points in the first 6:30 of the quarter, with both of those points coming at the free throw line.
At the same time, Texas Tech went on a 9-0 run with Bre’Amber Scott scoring seven of the nine as the Lady Raiders took a 30-27 lead. West Virginia would score the final six points of the quarter to lead 36-32 heading to the fourth.
“We talked about that at halftime that we can get on a roll and we can get back into the game,” Texas Tech head coach Krista Gerlich said. “I thought once we got back in it we relaxed and kind of got complacent.”
In the fourth, West Virginia erupted from beyond the arc, shooting 5 for 7 from three-point range in the final 10 minutes, which helped them close out Texas Tech.
Scott led Texas Tech with 18 points. JJ Quinerly and Jayla Hemingway both recorded a double-double for the Mountaineers. Hemingway finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Quinerly had 16 points and 10 rebounds.
