The No. 16-ranked West Virginia University women’s basketball team secured a dominant 89-59 victory over Arizona State on Wednesday night at Mullett Arena in Tempe. This win marked the 900th in the program’s history.
Senior guard JJ Quinerly and fifth-year player Kylee Blacksten led the Mountaineers to victory, each scoring over 20 points. Quinerly had a game-high 29 points, making her the top scorer for the third time this season. Blacksten contributed a career-high 24 points, her second time in her career scoring over 20 points. Together, they shot 17 of 30 from the field and made all 13 of their free throws.
The Mountaineers were efficient throughout the game, making 50% of their field goal attempts, 42.9% of their three-point attempts, and 24 of 27 from the free-throw line. Junior guard Jordan Harrison also had a strong game, finishing with 11 points, a season-high eight assists, and six rebounds.
Junior guard Sydney Shaw added 10 points, and senior guard Kyah Watson grabbed 11 rebounds, marking her second straight game with double-digit rebounds. Watson also had four steals.
Strong Team Effort Leads to Big Lead
The game was tied at 2 when West Virginia went on a 10-point run, with Quinerly hitting back-to-back threes. This run forced Arizona State to call a timeout and put the Mountaineers up by 12 with 6:25 left in the first quarter. West Virginia added another double-digit run in the final four minutes, outscoring Arizona State 14-2 to take a 28-9 lead.
In the second quarter, Arizona State outscored West Virginia 14-8, but the Mountaineers still led 36-23 at halftime, despite struggling with their shooting, hitting only 3 of 13 from the field.
Blacksten took charge in the third quarter, scoring five points early, and Quinerly added four more. West Virginia outscored Arizona State 11-2 in the opening minutes, forcing the Sun Devils into turnovers and holding them to just 1 of 6 shooting. By the end of the quarter, the Mountaineers led 63-38.
West Virginia continued to dominate in the fourth, outscoring Arizona State 26-21. This was their third quarter of the game where they scored 20 or more points, and they finished with a 30-point win. With this win, West Virginia improved to 2-0 in their all-time series against Arizona State, and it was their first road win in the matchup.
Quinerly’s 29 points moved her to No. 8 on West Virginia’s all-time scoring list with 1,708 points, just behind Hall of Famer Kate Bulger. Quinerly is also 4th in steals with 288, just seven away from catching Hall of Famer Rosemary Kosiorek, who has 293.
