JJ Quinerly and The Mountaineers Defeat Big 12 Defending Champions

Jan 29, 2024

MORGANTOWN, WV—The No. 24 ranked West Virginia Women’s basketball team (17-2, 6-2 Big 12) defeated the defending Big 12 champion Iowa State Cyclones 84-78 Saturday before a large crowd at the WVU Coliseum. JJ Quinerly scored a career high 31 points with 22 of them coming in the second half that propelled WVU to its fourth straight win. Quinerly scored the Mountaineer’s last 11 points and made a critical defensive play in the last minute to preserve the win.

Kylee Blacksten and Lauren Fields both had 14 points for WVU and Jordan Harrison had 13 with six assists and three steals. Quinerly had four 3 pointers, six rebounds, five steals and three assists. She was honored before the game for surpassing 1,000 career points.

There were nine lead changes and nine ties. The game was evenly matched as neither team led by more than five points until WVU put together a 10-0 run late in the third quarter. In the first half both teams hit seven of 14, 3 pointers with the Cyclones taking a 4-38 lead. Iowa State shot 56 percent, but WVU capitalized on 12 turnovers to offset 45 percent shooting.

With the win WVU moves 14-12 all time vs. Iowa State which includes a 9-4 mark in games played at the Coliseum. The crowd of almost 5,000 marked the second largest crowd of the season.

The Mountaineers will wrap up the two game homestand with a game against UCF on Tuesday, January 30 at 7 p.m. Game will be televised on ESPN+ and on 100.9 WZST-FM.