MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — In his first season as WVU head coach, Mark Kellogg has used the same starting lineup in all 29 games. The Mountaineers have remained remarkably injury-free throughout the course of the year.
That good fortune changed in the late stages of Saturday’s Senior Day contest against TCU. However, the Mountaineers finished the job without junior guard JJ Quinerly in a 57-49 win.
Quinerly collided with a teammate in the late stages of the third quarter and did not return to the game. TCU trimmed a 23-point deficit down to 9 midway through the fourth quarter. However, West Virginia saw the game out despite being outscored 19-9 in the fourth quarter.
The Mountaineers scored the final 15 points in the first quarter to take a 21-7 lead. That run extended to 20 points between the quarters [26-7] and WVU led 37-17 at halftime.
Senior Day ceremony for Jayla Hemingway, Tavy Diggs and Lauren Fields as WVU hosts TCU: pic.twitter.com/tk7BiVYcVN
— Joe Brocato (@joebrowvm) March 2, 2024
“We need to come out and kind of punch first,” said WVU head coach Mark Kellogg. “Playing from the front is what we talked about a little bit. We had kind of gotten away from that or haven’t been able to do that through that [three-game] losing streak even though I thought we played fairly well at times.”
“We started the game off and I think we turned them over ten times in the first quarter,” said WVU guard Lauren Fields. “That’s when our offense was flowing. We know that we have to create offense from our defense.”
WVU extended their cushion to a game-high 23 points [46-23] midway through the third quarter and the Mountaineers took a 48-30 lead into the fourth quarter.
However, with Quinerly icing her right knee on the bench, the Horned Frogs (19-10, 6-12 Big 12) used an 8-0 run early in the fourth quarter to pull within ten points.
“JJ is certainly the leader of this group on the court. You never want to see somebody go down,” Kellogg said. “I do not have any report for you as of right now. I am sure over the next couple of days we’ll get a better report on that one.”
“We had to be able to step up and fill in big shoes,” said WVU senior guard Jayla Hemingway.
Needing a response, Hemingway scored five consecutive points to halt TCU’s momentum.
“We didn’t want them to get going,” Hemingway said. “We just wanted to keep the lead and be able to close out this game right. I think we were able to do that in the end.”
“She is playing like a senior right now who knows that the career is towards the back end, I guess,” Kellogg said. “The seniors should play that way. There is more of a sense of urgency.”
Quinerly and Jordan Harrison each scored 14 points to lead the Mountaineers. Hemingway and Kyah Watson each added eight points.
Madison Conner led TCU with 18 points. Sedona Prince notched a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds.
West Virginia (23-6, 12-6 Big 12) awaits their seed in next week’s Big 12 Conference Tournament. Sunday’s Oklahoma State-Baylor contest will determine if the Mountaineers can find a way into the “double bye” in Kansas City.
“Today was a good game for us to get back on track and give us momentum going into the tournament,” Fields said.
“We closed the chapter today but there is still going to be a page to turn. We’ll turn the page sometime tomorrow when we figure out what the next steps are, who we play, when we play and those types of things. A really good book we have written so far this year,” Kellogg said.
“If you would have given me 23-6 and 12-6 before the year started, I think I would have taken you up on that one.”