Saturday held major implications between No. 23 and No. 24 West Virginia. The Sooners entered as the top team in the Big 12, while the Mountaineers entered in a three-way tie for second place.
West Virginia would almost give the game away, but the ball bounced their way in the closing seconds as the Mountaineers, as well as Jordan Harrison making a pair of free throws with 0.7 seconds left, helping WVU knock off Oklahoma, 70-66.
West Virginia almost gave the game to the Sooners. The Mountaineers were in front, 68-61 with 28 seconds to play, before Oklahoma’s Nevaeh Tot had a layup and three-pointer sandwiched around a turnover on the inbound pass, as West Virginia’s lead was suddenly two.
West Virginia’s Tavvy Diggs went to the free throw line with 6.5 seconds left, but missed both attempts, allowing Oklahoma a shot a chance to win at the end. The Sooners called a timeout with 3.7 seconds left, before Tot drove to the rim and was fouled. She missed the first free throw, before a lane violation was called, giving possession back to WVU. That led to Harrison’s free throws, helping the Mountaineers secure the win.
Saturday afternoon at the WVU Coliseum was the first of three consecutive games for WVU against ranked opponents, and it was also their only shot against the Big 12’s top team thus far Oklahoma in the regular season.
The Mountaineers took advantage of that opportunity as their defense forced 25 turnovers, which turned into 36 points for WVU. This was able to help the Mountaineers overcome Oklahoma’s strong shooting from three. The Sooners went 13-for-21 from three, scoring 59 percent of their points from beyond the arc.
Oklahoma raced out to an 8-0 lead within the first three minutes of the game, including cashing in on a pair of three-pointers, before they scored a layup of an offensive rebound, forcing a timeout to be called by the Mountaineers.
Out of the timeout, JJ Quinerly hit a three-pointer for West Virginia, but the Sooners responded with another three of their own, leading 11-3.
West Virginia trailed by five with under two minutes to play, but the Mountaineers closed the final 1:43 of the first quarter on a 7-2 run, tying the game at 18-18 to end the first.
Things had a similar feel to the first quarter throughout the remainder of the game. It was a back-and-forth battle all afternoon.
The second and third quarters were decided by a combined one point, with the Sooners leading by one at the end of each period. At halftime, WVU trailed 32-31, with the Sooners turning the ball over 14 times in the first half, while they also made seven of their 11 three-pointers.
In the fourth quarter, the Mountaineers and Sooners were moving slowly on offense. WVU started out strong scoring five points to start the quarter, including a Jayla Hemingway three-pointer to put the Mountaineers in front by four. The Sooners kept WVU’s lead to no more than six, as Jordan Harrison made a layup with 4:21 to play.
The Sooners would certainly not be out of it, cutting the lead to one as Payton Verhulst hit her sixth three-pointer of the game with 1:56 to play, putting the Sooners down one.
During WVU’s late 6-0 run, Diggs came up big on the defensive end with a block, while she also had six points and two rebounds in the final quarter as well. Diggs finished with 12 points and four rebounds. Quinerly led WVU with 18 points, while Verhulst scored 20 points with six of her seven makes coming from deep for the Sooners.
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