MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Entering the second half of his first season as the head coach of the WVU women’s basketball team, Mark Kellogg has utilized the same starting lineup in all 16 games. The starting five has remained injury-free and highly productive in the Mountaineers’ 14-2 start.
JJ Quinerly, Kyah Watson and Kylee Blacksteen were every-game starters for Dawn Plitzuweit last season. Incoming transfers Lauren Fields and Jordan Harrison joined the team shortly after Kellogg was hired.
“I want to sustain it if we can. I don’t want lineups and roles being up and down and all over the place. I don’t want these kids not knowing what to expect each night. We worked pretty hard early to see if we could establish who the better group was,” Kellogg said.
“We’ve thought about it and talked about it quite a bit. Is this the best group? Do they play the best together? We have some of the lineup analytics that we can look at. That group has kind of really been the best. It is not perfect from a rotation standpoint. But it has worked for us to date. Until somebody gets an injury, or starts playing really well, we’ll probably keep rolling with it.”
That continuity in the starting lineup, coupled with roster retention has helped the Mountaineers to a strong start to the season despite back-to-back offseasons with head coaching transitions. Kellogg was able to retain six players from the 2022-2023 roster. Only ten players have taken the court so far this season.
“Once the get-to-know process started, I thought we were in pretty good shape at that point. Nothing led me to believe that they wouldn’t hold true to what they were telling everybody else before I got here, that they were committed to the program, loved being here and loved being a part of the program,” Kellogg said.
“I think they were excited when I got the job because of the style of play and it fit what they wanted to do.”
“I am cool with everybody on the team. We have jelled together. We’re always together doing stuff,” Quinerly said. “But the girls that stayed — Kyah, Jayla [Hemingway], Messiah [Hunter], me and Messiah came here together, we’ve known each other since fifth grade — just having them here has been great. I am able to talk to them whenever I need to.”
Kellogg is hopeful to build some more depth on his roster throughout the winter and into next season.
“We have depth. That is not a problem. But we need more. In practice we had nine players yesterday. That ain’t it,” Kellogg said. “We’ve got to be better than that. We’ve got to build it and get depth and get healthy. We have had some injuries and that has affected our depth.”
The Mountaineers (3-2 Big 12) split a pair of games on a two-game road trip last week. WVU could not hold a 19-point second-half lead in a 74-64 loss at Iowa State. West Virginia bounced back with a 76-59 win at UCF on Saturday.
“I liked the second-half response [at UCF]. In particular, in the third quarter I thought we played pretty well and Quinerly got going. Of course, she got her thousandth point. We just needed her to take over a little bit. And she did that,” Kellogg said.
Quinerly faced the coach that recruited her to WVU, Mike Carey. He is in his first year as an assistant coach at UCF.
“He was doing a lot of yelling that game,” Quinerly said.
UCF will visit the WVU Coliseum on January 30.
In Saturday’s win over the Knights, Quinerly surpassed the 1,000-point plateau. She says the program’s all-time steals record is in her sights. Quinerly has 182 steals in 77 career games. Talisha Hargis is the program’s record holder with 355.
“Honestly, I really don’t care about my points,” Quinerly said. “Yeah, it was a good milestone to hit. But for me, I do want to break that steals record and be there for my team. To be able to score these types of points to help my team out, I’m going to do what I need to do. But steals is where I want to get better at, for sure.”
West Virginia will host Houston (11-5, 2-3 Big 12) Wednesday at 7 p.m. The Cougars are a familiar opponent for Kellogg, having recently faced them while at Stephen F. Austin.
“We played them a couple times when I was at SFA. We played them two years ago and then the year before that as well. So I have some familiarity with Houston and their roster,” Kellogg said.
“We recruited some of those kids way back in the day. Some of them have been at Houston for quite a while.”
Houston’s roster features eleven seniors/graduate players. Senior guard Laila Blair leads the Cougars in scoring at 16.9 points per game.
“The kid can just score really at all three levels,” Kellogg said. “She plays with ultimate confidence and plays at her speed. It is hard to get her sped up. Stepback 3’s, 3’s in transition, mid-range, she can get to the rim and she shoots a ton of free throws.”
Through the first three weeks of Big 12 play, WVU is one of five conference teams to win a pair of games on the road in league play.
“It is relentless. It is a battle every single night,” Kellogg said. “There’s talent. There’s size. There’s skill. Each team is different. Some are a little more athletic, some have a little more skill. And you get exposed a bit easier, quicker when you are playing in the Big 12.”