MORGANTOWN — On Education Day, the WVU women’s basketball team learned an important lesson:
The Mountaineers can still win even without star guard J.J. Quinerly in the game.
That was the situation Monday morning, in front of a Coliseum crowd of 7,535 — mostly elementary-aged kids from around the state celebrating some time off from class — as the Mountaineers held off a major upset bid and beat Wright State, 77-72.
“I did not think we played particularly well,” WVU head coach Mark Kellogg said. “I’m not even sure we deserved, maybe, for the majority of that game to win.”
The Mountaineers (10-0) did so with the two tales of Quinerly in this game.
Part 1 was the junior guard scoring a career-high 30 points, willing her team most of the time to keep the game close.
It was Quinerly’s fifth-straight game with at least 21 points. She’s averaging 23.8 points per game during the streak.
Part 2 was where disaster nearly struck, as Quinerly fouled out of the game with four minutes remaining while going for a steal on an inbounds pass.
Instead, she fouled Alexis Hutchinson, who went 1 for 2 at the line to tie the game at 67.
That thought of potential disaster was not running through Quinerly’s mind, though.
“We were about to win,” Quinerly said in describing what she was thinking. “I knew my teammates would step up and do what they had to do to win this game. I was just ready to root them on.”
It was the largest crowd in the Coliseum for a women’s game since 2019, and it witnessed a back-and-forth between Quinerly and Hutchinson, who continued to go shot-for-shot against the other.
Hutchinson, a fifth-year senior from Centerville, Ohio, finished with 37 points for Wright State (6-5), the most against the Mountaineers since TCU’s Lauren Heard scored 38 on Feb. 20, 2021.
“Hutchinson was phenomenal,” Kellogg said. “We threw a lot at her. We tried a bunch of different stuff, and nothing really seemed to work.”
Quinerly’s scoring aside, the game was won while she was saddled to the bench.
WVU forward Tirzah Moore came up big with two baskets over the final 4:06 and WVU’s defense picked up its 25th turnover of the game by forcing a shot clock violation with 38 seconds remaining, when the Mountaineers were clinging to a 71-69 lead.
Moore’s play stood out, because she had only played five minutes leading into the fourth quarter, but then suddenly became WVU’s focal point on offense.
“We kind of thought we could run some plays for Tirzah, because she had a mismatch inside,” Kellogg said. “The whole day was weird. From the early start, we didn’t have a shoot-around. The game felt weird. I was searching for anything that would work.”
Jayla Hemingway went 4 of 6 from the foul line in the final three minutes and Kyah Watson hit two crucial free throws that gave WVU a 75-72 lead with 22 seconds left.
“We battled, so I was proud of that,” Kellogg said. “Big-time credit to Wright State. I thought they were the aggressor. They were the team who punched first. They stuck it to us early and we were back on our heels.”
Hutchinson’s sixth and final 3-pointer cut WVU’s lead to 73-72 with 25 seconds left. On the Raiders’ next possession, Hutchinson’s 3-pointer from the corner was too long, and the Mountaineers could finally exhale.
Jordan Harrison added 18 points and five rebounds for WVU, but she also battled through foul trouble. Hemingway finished with 12 points, 10 coming from the foul line.
TWEET @DomPostSports
