MORGANTOWN — J.J. Quinerly and Jordan Harrison made sure Mark Kellogg’s debut at WVU was a good one.
The two guards combined for 37 points and seven 3-pointers, as the Mountaineers ran past Loyola (Md.) 74-39 on Tuesday at the Coliseum.
“It’s good to get the first one out of the way,” said Kellogg who was hired from Stephen F. Austin last April. “I thought about it a lot today, what it would be like when I walked out to be the head coach of the Mountaineers. It was pretty special. A lot of thoughts were kind of running through my mind.”
Quinerly’s production wasn’t anything new, it was the 11th time in her career she’s had at least 19 points in a game. Her four 3-pointers were a career high.
“She shot it really well today,” Kellogg said. “She’s just so dynamic. She’s the fastest kid I’ve ever coached. She has the ability to go from zero to 100 and then stop again. I’ve never seen a kid that can go so quick and then just stop so quick.”
Harrison, though, is the new kid on the block, having transferred from Stephen F. Austin and following Kellogg to Morgantown.
Her debut was a strong first half, in which she scored 12 of her 18 points, mixing in some drives to the basket to go along with her outside shot.
“That’s something over the past two or three years I’ve added to my game,” Harrison said of her 3-point shot. “I haven’t always been a 3-point shooter, more of a pass-first point guard, but now I’m very confident in my shot.”
Harrison was the Freshman of the Year in the WAC last season after averaging 12.1 points and 5.0 assists per game.
Moving up to a bigger conference and a bigger school hasn’t seemed to make a difference in her game.
“I always knew I could play at this level,” she said. “It was just a matter of getting here and proving to people I can play at this level. I’m just glad I’m finally here.”
It was a somewhat shaky start for the Mountaineers (1-0) and their defense in the first quarter. After falling behind 18-8, the Greyhounds (0-1) finished the quarter on an 8-0 run to keep it close.
“The first quarter, you could tell there were some nerves,” said guard Lauren Fields, a transfer from Arizona who scored 13 points in her WVU debut. “I’m glad we got it out of the way.”
The difference came in the second quarter, when WVU held Loyola to just two points, while forcing nine turnovers.
“We weren’t great defensively, but we settled in during the second quarter,” Kellogg said. “We held them to two points. Once we did that, I thought we were considerably better.”
Jayla Hemingway came off the bench to add nine points, while Kyah Watson had a nice all-around game with five points, six rebounds and four steals.
WVU finished with 12 3-pointers in all and came away with a 35-22 rebounding advantage.
Loyola was led by junior forward Lex Therien, who finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
