MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia women’s basketball coach Mark Kellogg was intrigued to see how his team would respond to its first loss in Friday’s matchup with East Tennessee State.
That the Mountaineers were without their leading scorer in senior guard JJ Quinerly, and playing before an Education Day crowd of 8,489 inside the WVU Coliseum only added to Kellogg’s fascination in regards to the matchup with the Buccaneers.
The 15th-ranked Mountaineers responded to the game’s opening basket with 18 unanswered points, setting the tone in an 85-40 victory before a jubilant atmosphere created by school-aged children.
“Typically, you get their attention a little more after a loss,” said Kellogg, referencing WVU’s 78-73 to Texas in the Gulf Coast Showcase final on Sunday.
Quinerly, averaging a team-best 18.6 points, had played in 103 consecutive games dating back to the start of her college career and made 85 consecutive starts. She was resigned to street clothes for this matchup with her left wrist wrapped.
That West Virginia (9-1) doesn’t play again after Friday until December 15 at Temple made it an easier decision for the senior guard to sit.
“Part of the decision for her not to play was we knew what rest was coming behind today, so let her rest. She should be available,” said Kellogg, who described the standout guard as day to day and added she will be re-evaluated Monday. “We’ll be OK. It was a fresh kind of injury that we just needed to take our time and let it heal properly. She’ll be back and ready to roll.”
Kellogg felt his team was locked in during pregame warmups, and after Braylyn Milton accounted for the game’s first basket to give ETSU (4-5) its only lead, the Mountaineers garnered complete control.
Jordan Thomas accounted for WVU’s first bucket and she and Sydney Shaw combined for the team’s first 10 points, with Shaw draining a pair of three-pointers during that stretch.
“I’ve never experienced a packed out [Coliseum] like that and screaming kids were great,” Shaw said. “It was really fun to be a part of. They did their job.”
Consecutive triples from Jordan Harrison made it 16-2, and Shaw scored near the rim off one of ETSU’s 11 first-quarter turnovers to make it 18-2.
“They’re motivated to play coming off the disappointing loss and we had to take a couple days off. You feel emotion and energy in the building,” Kellogg said. “I was interested to see how our team came into the locker room before the speech and they were jumping up and down and excited. At 10:15 in the morning, that’s not always the case with college students. They created it early on.”
The Mountaineers settled for a 23-10 lead through one quarter, with the visitors making 4-of-7 field-goal attempts and a pair of three-pointers over the first 10 minutes, but unable to get off an adequate amount of shots to hang in.
WVU continued to excel from the perimeter and got a three from both Sydney Woodley and Kylee Blacksten within the first 3 minutes of the second quarter to lead 29-14.
Blacksten’s triple was the start of a 14-0 spurt that also featured point production from four players in the starting five, including a triple from Kyah Watson.
At halftime, the Mountaineers led 44-16 and the Buccaneers never got closer over the final two quarters.
After making 3-of-12 threes in its lone loss to this point, WVU went to halftime 8 of 16 from beyond the arc.
“We didn’t shoot very many threes against Texas, which I thought we needed to. We wanted to establish an identity from the three,” Kellogg said. “You get all of those things to talk about when you play a team like that and happen to lose, but most importantly, I get their attention from a loss.”
Harrison made 6-of-8 shots and scored a team-high 17 points while surpassing 1,000 points for her college career. The junior guard added five rebounds and five assists in her first career contest at WVU without playing alongside Quinerly.
“We practiced without her the last two days so it wasn’t that big of a change,” Harrison said. “We knew we’d still be able to beat this team without her.”
Shaw scored all 15 of her points in the opening half and Blacksten and Watson contributed 11 apiece to make it four double-figure scorers in the win.
“I knew I had to be more aggressive, but it wasn’t like I had to do too much,” Shaw said. “Just playing my game.”
The Mountaineers made 10-of-21 threes and held a 39-17 rebounding advantage, including 16-5 on the offensive end for a 17-7 edge in second-chance points.
Watson’s eight boards led all players.
Milton’s nine points led ETSU, which had 29 turnovers, including 22 over the first two frames.
The Mountaineers turned it over 25 times themselves.
“Turnovers would be my gripe. It’s getting to be a little ridiculous at this point,” Kellogg said. “I have to get this addressed.”