MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Above all else, the success West Virginia has enjoyed under head coach Mark Kellogg can be attributed to defense.
The Mountaineers have had great difficulty stopping opponents of late, and that was again the case Monday night at Hope Coliseum as visiting Villanova had its way from start-to-finish, shooting 52 percent from the field and scoring 20 more points in each of the first three quarters to ease past the Mountaineers, 81-59.
“Really disappointed in this one,” Kellogg said. “That’s a good basketball team, but we should be better than what we showed tonight on our home floor. We’ll get back to the drawing board. We have not been very good on the defensive end the last three games and that’s typically what we’ve prided ourselves on.”
The Wildcats improved to 6-2 and ended a 21-game home win streak for 25th-ranked WVU, which fell to 6-2. The Mountaineers, now 34-3 in Morgantown under Kellogg, had won 39 straight home non-conference contests dating back to the 2018-19 season.
Villanova never trailed and took its first double-digit lead at 22-10 on a Jasmine Biscoe three-pointer. Biscoe, a 5-foot-7 sophomore guard, entered as the team’s leading scorer at 16.7 points, and nearly equaled that output in a 15-point first quarter to spark the visitors to a 28-17 lead.
“She moved without the ball a lot. Any offensive player that can move that well and set up for her teammates makes it hard to guard,” said WVU guard Jordan Harrison.
It marked the second straight quarter WVU allowed 28 points going back to the fourth period from its first loss Wednesday against Ohio State.
Brynn McCurry provided the Wildcats with steady play throughout and scored seven points in the second quarter, including a triple early in the frame that upped her team’s advantage to 33-17.
The Mountaineers got as close as nine in the second at 40-31 after Sydney Shaw connected from long range, but after more than 2 minutes of scoreless play, Bascoe made a trey and then came up with a steal that she converted into a layup. Brooke Bender accounted for Villanova’s sixth first-half triple to help the Wildcats take a 48-35 lead into halftime.
Bascoe (20) and McCurry (15) combined to match the Mountaineers’ first-half point total.
“She’s a really good player, but we did everything we weren’t supposed to do and allowed her to get comfortable,” Kellogg said of Bascoe. “We never got her uncomfortable.”
Kennedy Henry opened the second-half scoring with the Wildcats’ seventh triple, before WVU got to within 11 on separate occasions in the frame — at 51-40 following Harrison’s three and at 57-46 when Shaw scored in transition as part of a 6-2 spurt.
Bender countered with a three that marked her team’s last basket beyond the arc, and the Wildcats continued to execute at a high level offensively, taking a 68-51 advantage into the fourth after making 9-of-17 shots through the first 10 minutes after halftime.
Harrison accounted for the first basket of the fourth, but West Virginia would get no closer.
The second of two free throws from Henry with 6:06 to play left Villanova with its largest lead, 77-53.
The Mountaineers shot 8 for 26 after halftime, 3 for 15 in the fourth quarter and 12 for 39 on layups.
“We were looking for fouls instead of trying to finish,” Kellogg said. “It was disappointing that we were throwing crap up and hoping we’d get bailed out by the officials.”
One game after allowing its highest point total (83) in Kellogg’s three seasons in the setback to the Buckeyes, the Mountaineers surrendered the second most points they have to an opponent under his watch.
Villanova made 33-of-63 shots and got a game-high 24 points from Bascoe, who matched teammate MD Ntambue with a game-high six assists. The Mountaineers totaled six assists as a team.
“They’re a great passing team and that’s what I’m trying to get my team to do is be a little more unselfish,” Kellogg said.
McCurry scored 21 on 9-for-12 shooting.
Gia Cooke led WVU in scoring for a fourth straight game with 20 points.
The Mountaineers forced 14 turnovers and committed 16.
“Defensively, we didn’t have that grit that we usually do,” Harrison said. “We rely on our defense a lot and when we don’t have that defense, things don’t go too well.”