Ranked WVU Women Keep Rolling; Win Sixth Straight Game
Ray Anthony Vallorani
| 
PROVO, UT,—–The long travel to Utah didn’t affect the No.23 West Virginia Mountaineer Women’s team as the Mountaineers survived a late BYU surge to beat the Cougars 76-69 Saturday night. WVU led by as many as 18 points late in the second quarter but the Cougars kept chipping away, trimming the Mountaineer lead down to four points twice in the fourth quarter. However the Mountaineers managed to stay ahead each time to win the game.
The Mountaineers (19-2, 8-2 Big 12) was lead by senior guard Lauren Fields. She finished the game with 22 points on 8 of 11 from the floor. She went 4 of 6 from beyond the arc and added three steals and two assists. Junior guard JJ Quinerly got her 20th double digit scoring performance of the season with 19 points. She is the Big 12 steals leader adding five takeaways and five rebounds. Sophomore guard Jordan Harrison finished in double figures with eleven points. Kyah Watson scored ten points and added six rebounds, five assists and two blocks.
BYU (12-11, 2-8) was led by Lauren Gustin. She finished with 16 points and 14 rebounds. WVU forced 23 BYU turnovers and converted those mistakes into 27 points. The Mountaineers turned the ball over just eleven times.
In the opening ten minutes the Mountaineers jumped to a 24-14 lead over BYU. The Cougars pulled within 64-60 during the opening three minutes of the fourth quarter. Quinerly knocked down two free throws before a Harrison steal and score which extend the lead to eight points with six minutes to play. The Mountaineers held the Cougars 0-of-7 from the floor over five minutes to have just 40 seconds to play in the game. BYU scored five quick points before a pair of free throws from Harrison with 13 seconds left on the clock before time expired.
WVU is now 1-1 all time versus the Cougars. WVU is back home against Texas Tech on Tuesday February 6 at 7 p.m.