West Virginia hosted the No. 21 Iowa State Cyclones at the WVU Coliseum on Saturday night, and were able to snap their three game losing streak, defeating the Cyclones 73-60.
JJ Quinerly led the Mountaineers with 20 points on 7-13 shooting, with Kyah Watson joining her as the only other Mountaineer to score double figures, scoring 11 points. West Virginia held Iowa State to just 35% from the floor and 17% from three. West Virginia shot 40% from the floor and 23% from three.
The West Virginia defense was stifling to start the game, allowing only five points at the midway point of the first quarter, and holding Iowa State to 2-7 shooting from the floor and forcing five turnovers. West Virginia held a 8-5 lead at the first media timeout, with JJ Quinerly and Jayla Hemingway having four points each.
Iowa State would be able to find some offensive rhythm out of the timeout, hitting two threes, but the Mountaineers would continue to force them to turn the ball over. West Virginia forced eight turnovers in the first quarter and held a slim 18-15 lead after one. JJ Quinerly led West Virginia with eight first quarter points.
Both teams picked up the pace offensively to start the second quarter, and found offensive consistency. At the second quarter media timeout, West Virginia led 30-27 and hit a pair of three pointers.
Iowa State would go on a 6-0 run over the final 2:31, including a buzzer-beating layup to give them a 35-34 halftime advantage. The Cyclones shot 45% in the first half, while West Virginia shot 41%. Neither team could find the range from three in the first half, with WVU shooting 23%, and Iowa State shooting 19%. West Virginia was able to force 12 Cyclone first half turnovers however, and scored 10 points off them.
“Our message at half was about finding ways to get stops in transition…. We gave some things up we didn’t want to give up,” Coach Plitzuweit said after the game on her halftime message.
West Virginia continued to struggle from the field to start the third quarter, but three offensive rebounds helped lead them to a 9-6 run over the first five minutes of the quarter, and the Mountaineers had a 43-41 lead at the media timeout.
Madisen Smith scored six points in the final 2:01 of the third quarter for WVU, and Danni Nichols hit a buzzer-beating three pointer to give the Mountaineers their largest lead of the game, 56-48, to end the third quarter.
West Virginia led by 13 points with 5:55 remaining in the game after two Danni Nichols free throws, and had only allowed two points in the quarter. A quick 5-0 run by the Cyclones would have the Mountaineers lead down to eight at the media timeout.
The media timeout would do a good job of stopping the Iowa State run, as they wouldn’t score for the next 1:58 and called a timeout down 65-55 with 2:59 remaining. The Cyclones got a layup out of the timeout, but were only able to score three more points the rest of the way and West Virginia finished the game on a 8-3 run.
Photo by Aaron Parker
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