Defense is the best offense, WVU Women’s Basketball proved on Sunday against Temple.
Playing for a national audience on ESPN 2, the No. 15 Mountaineers’ full court pressure stumped the Temple Owls, who allowed 17 turnovers on 11 WVU steals. WVU improved to 10-1 with the 68-46 win.
The opening minutes saw messy offense from West Virginia, as the Mountaineers committed two turnovers in the first three minutes. Defensively, though, it was business as usual, with the Owls struggling to handle WVU’s full court pressure.
West Virginia forced all of Temple’s five turnovers in the first quarter, grabbing four steals and forcing a shot clock violation. Despite just two steals from Temple in the first, WVU allowed the Owls to keep up, committing six turnovers and shooting just 5-18 in the period.
With a 16-13 lead entering the second quarter, West Virginia turned up the efficiency a bit, shooting 5-for-13 from the field and kept the pressure on Temple to go up 31-21 at the half.
Jordan Harrison and Kyah Watson popped off the stat sheet in the first half. Harrison ran WVU’s offense well, scoring eight points, shooting 3-for-7 from the field and 2-for-4 from three, and passing three assists.
Watson cleaned up at the rim, grabbing six defensive rebounds for eight rebounds total. Watson also scored six points and grabbed a steal in the first half.
The second half saw an increase in pace from both teams. West Virginia led 52-36 at the end of the third after both teams had their most productive quarters.
By the end of the game, Kyah Watson led all scorers with 15 points and posted a double-double with 10 rebounds to go with two steals and a block.
Joining Watson with a powerful inside presence was Célia Rivière, who scored a season-best 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds in 20 minutes. Rivière also grabbed a steal and a block in the game.
WVU struggled from the perimeter, shooting 9-25 from three. The Mountaineers’ usual top scorer, JJ Quinerly, knocked down just three shots in nine attempts to finish with 11 points. Fellow guards Sydney Shaw and Jordan Harrison scored 10 and 11 points respectively, with Shaw shooting just 2-for-9 from three.
Thanks to the versatility of Mark Kellogg’s squad as well as its consistent defense, the Mountaineers simply overpowered Temple. The Owls had just one scorer in double digits, that being senior guard Tiarra East, who made six free throws and two threes for 12 points on 2-12 shooting from the field.
WVU will be back in action in its first conference game against Colorado on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. ET in Boulder, Colorado.
Photo by Korey Moore, Blue Gold Sports
