MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Mark Kellogg liked a lot of what he saw from West Virginia’s women’s basketball team in the first half of Sunday’s matchup with Houston at Hope Coliseum as the Mountaineers gained a 21-point lead through two quarters.
Yet for Kellogg, the third quarter was what stood out most, and for good reason, as WVU hardly let up and outscored the Cougars 39-13 in the third period during a resounding 101-46 victory before a crowd of 3,968.
“That third quarter was awesome,” Kellogg said. “That’s us at our best. It’s free-flowing. It’s defense.”
The outcome was hardly in no doubt when the third began as West Virginia (11-2) led 42-21 at the break. Gia Cooke, a Houston transfer, led WVU and all players with 13 first-half points, while fellow guard Sydney Shaw scored 12 on four three-pointers.
“Coach asked me do you have a little more motivation today and I said absolutely coach,” Cooke said. “It feels good going to a different program and do what I’m doing with great players beside me. I was just excited to get at it and I had a lot more motivation to whoop them.”
The Cougars (6-6) struggled mightily against the Mountaineers’ pressure defense, with nine turnovers in the opening quarter and 10 more in the second. As a result, Houston went to halftime with 18 field-goal attempts — 19 fewer than its opponent.
Still, Kellogg, felt his team squandered its fair share of opportunities offensively, an issue WVU rectified in a major way during the dominant third quarter.
The Mountaineers made 13-of-16 field-goal attempts over that 10-minute stretch, with Shaw and Kierra “MeMe” Wheeler scoring 10 points apiece in the frame to leave WVU in front, 81-34.
Shaw led all players with 22 points and was one of six Mountaineers to register double-figure scoring. Cooke (17), Riley Makalusky (15), Wheeler (12), Harrison (11) and Jordan Thomas (10) followed.
“I feel like when I’m shooting and I’m not thinking about it, it’s going in,” Shaw said. “And that’s wha twas going right for me tonight. It was going up and I knew it was going in.”
Makalusky scored 12 of WVU’s 20 fourth-quarter points and made 5-of-6 threes.
Thomas played for the first time since December 5 against Mercyhurst after missing three straight games.
WVU had 21 assists and 12 turnovers.
“They came out fairly aggressive in their defensive coverage, which is good for us,” Kellogg said. “We can use some of that pressure against them if we’ll play the right way and share the basketball, which we ended up doing.”
Houston shot 17 for 41 with 36 turnovers.
“Proud of the group for this one,” Kellogg said. “They had a good week. Their energy has been fantastic. We took a couple days off, so maybe that helped them out a little bit. I’m not sure, but I felt good coming into this one. A lot of times, how you practice leads to how you play.”