On Wednesday night, the West Virginia Mountaineers (14-7, 5-4) fell to the No. 24 Texas Longhorns (18-6, 8-2) at the Coliseum by a score of 69-56. Sarah Bates led the way for the Mountaineers on the night, scoring 12 points, including seven in a large third quarter comeback. JJ Quinerly was the only other Mountaineers to score in double figures for the game, finishing with 11 points on 5-11 shooting.
West Virginia got off to a slow start, scoring just 2 points five minutes into the quarter, forcing coach Dawn Plitzuweit to call a timeout with Texas leading 13-2.
Back to back three pointers out of the timeout by JJ Quinerly and Madisen Smith quickly cut the Longhorns lead to five, but West Virginia’s offense would continue to struggle forcing another Plitzuweit timeout with 2:01 remaining in the quarter down 19-8.
West Virginia would once again respond out of the timeout, ending the quarter on a 6-0 run and down 19-14 after one quarter.
The West Virginia offense would continue to struggle to start the second quarter, not scoring a point until a JJ Quinerly jumper with 4:36 left that cut Texas’ lead back to eight. West Virginia would get a buzzer beating jumper from Sarah Bates that cut the deficit to nine at 31-22 heading into the half.
The Mountaineers shot just 32% from the floor, 18% from three and 50% from the line, but forced 10 Texas turnovers to keep themselves in the game.
Sarah Bates would provide a spark for the Mountaineers in the third quarter, scoring seven points, including a shot clock expiring three. The Mountaineers outscored the Longhorns 23-17 in the quarter, scoring more in the quarter than they did the entire first half. West Virginia finished the quarter on an 8-0 run over the last 1:40 to cut the Texas lead to 48-45.
“Attacking the rim, everyone sees me as just a shooter, shots weren’t falling tonight, so focusing on layups and getting to the basket,” Sarah Bates said on what worked for her in the game tonight.
Texas regained momentum to start the fourth quarter, scoring five quick points while the Mountaineers’ struggles from the line continued, going 1-4 from the free throw line in the first 1:30.
A 4-0 run by the Mountaineers cut the Longhorns lead to 57-52 with 5:11 remaining and forced a Texas timeout. Texas was able to see out the rest of the game, leading by as many as twelve with 2 minutes remaining with the Mountaineers unable to keep up with their offense.
The difference in the game was rebounding, Texas out-rebounded West Virginia by 14, including 14 offensive rebounds to only four for the Mountaineers. West Virginia was also only able to connect on 3-18 three pointers, with two of them coming on back to back possessions in the first quarter. West Virginia also only shot 11-21 on free throws in the game.
“Ultimately their second chance points hurt us, and missing 10 free throws hurt us,” Head Coach Dawn Plitzuweit on what hurt West Virginia tonight.
