West Virginia Women’s Basketball’s JJ Quinerly was named one of 10 semifinalists for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year award on Monday afternoon.
She is one of three Big 12 players on the list, with the others being Kansas’ Taiyanna Jackson and Kansas State’s Ayoka Lee.
West Virginia as a team is second in the nation in steals per game with 13.9 with a total of 430, 20 short of the single-season program record. Quinerly herself has averaged 2.94 steals per game with a total of 91 on the season, 23 short of the program’s single-season record.
That includes 16 games with three or more steals and a season-high of eight in a win at Cincinnati on January 20.
West Virginia as a team is second in the Big 12 Conference in scoring defense at 57.8 points per game and third in the nation with 23.9 turnovers forced per game.
Quinerly is finishing out her junior season and is eighth in program history in career steals with 225. The program record for career steals is held by Talisha Hargis with 355.
