MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia University women’s basketball’s three-game losing streak could not have come at a worse time. The skid caused the Mountaineers to slide in the Big 12 standings, and with the Big 12 Tournament right around the corner, WVU was not playing its best basketball.
Luckily enough for the Mountaineers, they had one more shot to get back on course before the conclusion of the regular season. They certainly took advantage of it.
No. 25 WVU (23-6, 12-6 Big 12) finished a season-sweep of TCU (19-10, 6-12 Big 12) with a 57-49 win on Senior Day Saturday afternoon at the WVU Coliseum. The win marked WVU head coach Mark Kellogg’s eight consecutive season with at least 23 wins.
Whereas some games are known for their back-and-forth contests, Saturday’s matchup was a game of runs, especially early in the first half. WVU raced off the blue carpet to a 6-0 lead after it forced turnovers on each of TCU’s first four possessions.
“We needed to come out and kind of punch first and play from the front,” WVU head coach Mark Kellogg said.
Eventually, the Horned Frogs settled in to go on a 7-0 run of their own to take a lead late in the first quarter, but their success didn’t last long. WVU finished the quarter on a 15-0 run to take a 21-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. TCU didn’t make a field-goal attempt after its initial first quarter run until the 4:57 mark of the second quarter.
By halftime, WVU held a convincing 37-17 lead and appeared to be in control. Those circumstances changed in the second half.
While the Mountaineers’ momentum carried over into the second half with a strong third quarter, two critical injuries significantly slowed WVU’s roll. First, Quinerly exited the game with a leg injury late in the third quarter, and she did not return. In the fourth quarter, forward Danelle Arigbabu suffered an upper-body injury after taking a hard fall in the post while defending star TCU center Sedona Prince (15 points, 12 rebounds).
“Hopefully we dodge some bullets and we can get them back out here pretty soon,” Kellogg said.
As a result, TCU actually outscored WVU 19-9 in the fourth quarter, but the Mountaineers’ cushion was too large to deflate.
Quinerly and point guard Jordan Harrison led WVU in scoring with 14 points each. Harrison also added four rebounds, five assists and six steals.
[WVU has] two guards that are dynamos,” TCU head coach Mark Campbell said. “Those two kids control the whole game on both sides of the court. They speed you up when they’re on defense, and when they’re on offense, they control the tempo.”
WVU also recognized seniors Tavy Diggs (two rebounds, one steal), Lauren Fields (six points, five rebounds, five assists) and Jayla Hemingway (eight points, two steals) pregame Saturday ahead of their final game at the WVU Coliseum.
The Mountaineers now await their placement in the annual Big 12 Tournament. WVU is expected to fall somewhere between the No. 4 to No. 6 range for seeding.
“We talked a little bit about closing the chapter. Today, we closed the chapter, but there’s still going to be a page to turn, so we’ll turn that page now.”