MORGANTOWN — The first chapter to Mark Kellogg’s time as the WVU women’s basketball coach came to a close Thursday.
The title: Perfect, so far.
“To be 11-0, pretty good,” Kellogg said after the Mountaineers took out Niagara 103-52 inside the Coliseum. “I think it’s only the fourth time in school history that any team has started 11-0. Wasn’t sure, honestly, when we were here months ago if this is where we’d be sitting and be undefeated.”
Kellogg made no promises when he was introduced as WVU’s coach back in April, yet optimism has been delivered in his first season.
J.J. Quinerly has delivered, too. She led five scorers in double figures with 18 points and also added five assists and four steals.
Her run of five consecutive 20-point games came to an end, not that it mattered, as the Mountaineers closed out their nonconference schedule with the win.
WVU grew its lead early and forced a season-high 32 turnovers. The Mountaineers recorded 25 steals, the most they’ve had in a game since 2011 and they broke the 100-point barrier for the second time this season.
More importantly, it was the type of effort WVU didn’t have in its last game, a five-point win against Wright State in which most things went wrong for WVU.
“Us coming back the last couple of days, we just went over a few things,” Quinerly said. “We got cussed out a little bit. We came back with the mentality that we need to finish this game out and we need to play our way and to our standards.”
Up next is the real challenge for WVU with the start of Big 12 play and a road trip to Kansas on Dec. 30.
No longer will the Mountaineers have to wonder if they’re for real, because they’re about to find out.
“The depth of the league is a little different than at the mid-major level,” said Kellogg, who came to WVU from Stephen F. Austin. “You can look at the schedule and think if we take care of business we can string together some wins. You look at the Big 12 schedule and you wonder where that run is going to come?”
The depth of the Big 12 could be a type of gauntlet. The Mountaineers were one of 10 women’s teams to remain undefeated through Thursday’s games.
The Big 12 has four of them: WVU, No. 5 Texas, No. 10 Baylor and No. 25 TCU.
“A lot of good competition,” Quinerly said. “With all of the new teams that have come in the Big 12, there’s going to be some good competition and great games.”
WVU guard Lauren Fields bounced back from a scoreless effort against Wright State to finish with 14 points.
Kyah Watson had an all-around performance with six points, eight rebounds and five steals.
Jordan Harrison also had 14 points and seven assists, but also nine turnovers and Jayla Hemingway came off the bench to add 13 points.
