WVU has history to be proud of in the Iowa State Women’s Basketball textbooks, and the Mountaineers will plan to write a new chapter Wednesday night.
With a 13-11 lead in the all-time series, the Mountaineers have a known history of taking down ranked Cyclones teams. In the schools’ most recent meeting last season, West Virginia did exactly that, winning 73-60 over the No. 21 Cyclones.
The upset win evened the Mountaineers’ win-loss conference record at six games each while dropping Iowa State to 7-5. Then-sophomore JJ Quinerly shined with 20 points and two steals, as did Jayla Hemingway and Kyah Watson, who grabbed 12 rebounds each.
This season, many of the same WVU players have a new narrative to uphold in Ames, Iowa. Under the direction of new coach Mark Kellogg, it is West Virginia who enters ranked and with a 13-1 season record. ISU is 10-4 and undefeated in Big 12 play.
Nevertheless, after a stunning 70-49 loss to Texas on Saturday, the Mountaineers do have a reputation to fight the Cyclones for. With that in mind this is a glimpse of WVU’s heroic history of statement victories over Iowa State.
Feb. 17, 2013: Second-half comeback secures narrow upset in Ames
West Virginia may want to mentally reverse roles with Iowa State on Wednesday, if not just to recreate this epic 2013 upset.
The 14-10 Mountaineers entered Ames 6-7 in conference play this season, gearing up to fight the No. 24 Iowa State Cyclones. After a low-scoring, poor-shooting first-half brawl landed WVU down 27-22, the Mountaineers targeted efficiency to win. The Mountaineers finished the game shooting 26-for-50 from the field and six-for-15 from three. The high clips made up for a dismal 10-for-20 night at the free throw line and countered ISU’s 19-of-46 from the field, five-for-23 from three, and 23-of-29 free throw shooting performance.
Propelling WVU’s second-half resurgence was 6’1″ freshman guard Bria Holmes. Holmes scored 13 points in the half to finish with 18 points in 25 minutes off the bench. Despite her four-for-seven three-point shooting, though, Holmes left all non-scoring statistical categories completely empty. Fellow bench players Jess Harlee and Brooke Hampton helped out with that, posting eight rebounds and seven assists respectively. As a team, WVU matched Iowa State’s 28 rebounds and tallied five more assists for buckets.
This bench charge kept things surprising in the second half, but, more importantly, it got the Mountaineers the upset. A 6-0 WVU run closed the game and put WVU at a 46-39 advantage in the half. The Mountaineers won 68-66 in their last meeting of the season against the Cyclones.
Jan. 15, 2014: Higher expectations set tone for bigger upset in next Cyclone-Mountaineer matchup
The next time WVU met with Iowa State, which was once again in Ames, Iowa State had even more respect while WVU arguably had less. The Cyclones ranked No. 13 with a 14-2 record, with both losses coming in Big 12 games. WVU, also 14-2, was yet to receive a ranking all season despite defeating a No. 11 Oklahoma State team that carried one of Iowa State’s losses. WVU’s only losses on the season were in the first game against Ohio State and against the No. 7 Baylor Bears.
With the Mountaineers unranked and not seen as favorites, they made a strong statement in Ames, right from the start. Just like the last matchup, Iowa State started slow in the first half, scoring just 23 points. WVU, meanwhile, picked up right where it left off, scoring 36 in the half. The Cyclones nearly matched WVU after halftime, falling just 37-36 for the second half, but the damage was already done. WVU’s four double-digit scorers and defensive domination of the Cyclones (6-2 steals advantage, 4-1 blocks advantage, 11-8 forced turnovers advantage) shocked the ranked powerhouse. The Mountaineers came out victorious, 73-59, and entered the next week ranked No. 18.
Jan. 16, 2019: Mountaineers end three-game win streak in series with upset
In what the team’s own website considers WVU’s most recent “great win” over ISU, other than last season’s victory, the Mountaineers grabbed yet another upset victory over the ranked Cyclones. Again holding similar records, WVU entered its own Coliseum with a 2-2 Big 12 record and 11-4 record overall to play the 12-3 (3-1 in-conference) Cyclones.
The similar records once again failed to translate to similar rankings, with Iowa State ranked No. 18 and West Virginia being left off the AP’s top 25 list. The Mountaineers entered ready to prove the public wrong, stacking up to a 20-13 lead at the end of the first quarter. Unlike previous matchups, though, Iowa State did not die easily from West Virginia’s pressure, and the Cyclones picked up their scoring to trail just 31-30 at halftime.
After shooting three-for-six from long-distance in the first half for a high of 13 points, junior guard Lucky Rudd led the defensive charge in the second half that took down Iowa State. Rudd picked up three steals in the second half and stayed aggressive offensively to pick up 10 free throw attempts. She made nine, accounting for the same amount of points WVU won by in the 73-64 finish. Rudd’s 22-point total was rivaled by Iowa State’s Bridget Carleton, who managed 26 points, 10 rebounds, and five steals, but other Mountaineers stepped up to put the pressure on Carleton’s Cyclones. Junior guard Tynice Martin scored 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while 6’0″ senior Naomi Davenport tallied 15 points and eight rebounds in the win.
Though the victory was immediately followed by a loss to the No. 2 Baylor Bears, WVU soon proved its value again with a win over No. 12 Texas. The Mountaineers went on to finish 22-11 for the year but never earned a ranking at any point of the season.
Photo by Wesley Shoemaker, Blue Gold Sports
