MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — After starting Thursday’s contest against Robert Morris in the fashion it hoped to, West Virginia went into a lull for much of the second and third quarters as the Colonials battled back and hung around around at the WVU Coliseum.
However, after Natalie Johnson’s jumper cut the Robert Morris deficit to 11 with inside 4 minutes to play in the third quarter, the Mountaineers asserted themselves to take complete control. West Virginia would score the next 17 points — including 14 unanswered to end the third quarter — and pull away for a 72-42 victory.
“It starts with us getting stops and we got out in transition and moved the ball pretty well and got some good shots,” WVU head coach Dawn Plitzuweit said. “Robert Morris makes it really tough to get early offensive looks and to sustain that offensive possession without screening. In that stretch, the post kids were rim-running and attacking the rim and that opens up different gaps for somebody else to attack.”
The Mountaineers improved to 7-1 with their third straight win, while the defensive-minded Colonials fell to 6-3.
Johnson’s bucket at the 3:51 mark of the third made it 40-29, and Robert Morris had outscored the Mountaineers by five points since the opening quarter at that point.
“We had stretches in that game where we played really good basketball,” Plitzuweit said, “and we had stretches where we got into lulls and didn’t score.”
West Virginia then clamped down on the defensive end and used an aggressive offensive approach to consistently work its way to the free-throw line during a stretch that enabled the Mountaineers to open up a sizable advantage.
The first six of WVU’s 14 straight points to end the third came on free throws — four from JJ Quinerly and two from Danni Nichols.
“When you attack really well and get to the free-throw line, good things happen for you,” Plitzuweit said.
Following Nichols’ steal, Quinerly connected on a 3-pointer in transition to up the lead to 20. Jayla Hemingway added a triple on the Mountaineers’ next possession and two more free throws from Quinerly capped the scoring in the frame and sent WVU into the fourth leading 54-29.
“Just had to get stops on defense and move the ball on offense,” point guard Madisen Smith said. “The ball was kind of sticking a little bit and when that happens, there’s no flow within the offense.”
Before the Mountaineers pulled away for good, they got a jumper from Smith 4:33 into the second half that gave them a 38-27 lead. More notably, it brought Smith to 1,000 career points at West Virginia. She became the 39th player in program history to achieve the milestone, which came early in her fifth season with the Mountaineers.
“I’ve played with some of those players and I’m excited for it to happen,” Smith said. “Glad to put it behind me and look forward to winning games.”
Smith scored seven of her nine points in the opening quarter, before remaining stuck on seven as she missed all three of her second-quarter field-goal attempts.
“Of course it’s in my head,” she said. “Everybody is telling me, ‘you need nine points’, and I’m stuck at seven, like ‘when’s it going to happen?’”
“That’s a very big milestone,” Plitzuweit said. “Certainly credit to her for the way she has continued to grow and be someone who is in attack mode, but also be very willing to make an extra pass.”
Outside of the final 3 minutes of the third quarter, West Virginia played its best basketball in the opening period.
Rebecca Dwomoh’s 3-pointer at the 7:21 mark of the first quarter was the Colonials’ only field goal of the frame.
Not until Phoenix Gedeon’s jumper 2:01 into the second period did RMU record another field goal, and by that point, its deficit was 23-7.
“Our post defense was really good,” Plitzuweit said. “Post kids did a good job of getting around and making it difficult to get the ball inside.”
Smith’s seven first-quarter points paved the way for the Mountaineers to lead throughout, while Jayla Hemingway chipped in with five points and five rebounds.
After making nine first-quarter field goals, WVU went cold in the second and made only 4-of-15 shots as RMU battled back to trail 32-21 at halftime.
But after WVU took complete control with its strong closure to the third, the Colonials never got closer than 21 over the fourth quarter.
WVU’s Kyah Watson scored seven of her game-high 16 points in the final period. Watson made 7-of-11 shots in her first double-digit scoring effort as a Mountaineer.
“My teammates and the coaches have both expressed to me being more aggressive on the offensive end,” Watson said, “so that was something to focus on in this game.”
Hemingway added a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds.
“This was the best practice week Jayla’s had,” Plitzuweit said.
Quinerly scored 11 points, including nine in the second half. She also added seven rebounds as the Mountaineers held a decisive 50-31 edge on the glass, including 19-7 in offensive rebounds.
Gedeon was RMU’s lone double-figure scorer with 11 points. Dwomoh added nine in defeat.
The Colonials were held to 15-of-54 shooting, including 4 of 22 on triples.
“I was really pleased with our energy level this week in practice and our aggressiveness was really good tonight,” Plitzuweit said. “I know we’re getting better and that’s really fun to see.”