Mountaineer Women Move Up in Big 12 Basketball Tournament

Mar 9, 2024

KANSAS CITY, MO.—-The WVU Women’s basketball team (24-6) knocked off the Cincinnati Bearcats 70-55, in the second round of the 2024 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship inside the T-Mobile Arena Friday night.

Junior guard JJ Quinerly led all scorers in the game with 18 points. She shot 58.3 percent from the field. Guards Kyah Watson and Jayla Hemingway added 13 points and six rebounds each.

The victory marks the first for the Mountaineers at the Big 12 championship since winning the opening game of the 2022 tourney. The Mountaineers picked up their 24th win in a season for the 11th time in program history.

Sophomore guard Jordan Harrison scored 14 points, three rebounds and three assists. Defensively WVU finished the game with 13 steals, led by fifth year guard Lauren Fields with six. Field’s steals are the most by a Mountaineer in a Big 12 tournament game.

Watson scored the opening three points of the game , before a 6-0 run from Cincinnati shut down the Mountaineer offense until the 5:32 mark. WVU dominated the end of the first quarter with an impressive 17-0 run to lead Cincinnati 20-7 with 2:40 left. Two free throws from guard Tirzah Moore solidified the 24-10 advantage leading into the second quarter.

WVU led at the half 42-21. WVU went on to lead by as much as 18 points in the second frame after back to back field goals off of Bearcat turnovers by Quinerly and Moore.

The Mountaineers will face Kansas State in the quarterfinal round Saturday at 9 p.m.