The 16th-ranked WVU women’s basketball team came away with a school record Saturday in its 110-41 victory against Niagara inside the Coliseum.
Well, sort of anyway.
Technically the school record for turnovers forced in a game is 49, set all the way back in 1980.
It came against a school called McMaster. If you’ve never heard of the Marauders, there’s a good reason for it: It’s a Canadian university.
The Mountaineers (2-0) forced 44 of them against Niagara, which may be only an hour’s drive from the Canadian border, but still in the United States.
So, maybe we call Saturday a record against an American university.
Then again, maybe that won’t fly, but …
“It’s still a lot,” WVU head coach Mark Kellogg said. “I don’t know if it’s some type of record, but it’s got to be up there.”
The Mountaineers’ full-court pressure had forced 24 by halftime and simply cruised from there.
It’s early, but the Mountaineers have forced 76 turnovers through their first two games to go along with 39 steals.
“To me, that sounds crazy,” said WVU guard Sydney Shaw, a transfer from Auburn in her first season with the Mountaineers.
WVU’s 110 points are the most under Kellogg and the most for the Mountaineers since scoring 114 against Robert Morris in 2002.
“Obviously proud of the effort and we were prepared,” Kellogg said. “I thought our group was ready. I thought we were dialed in.”
For a second consecutive game, Jordan Harrison led the Mountaineers in scoring, finishing with 21 points to go along with seven assists and three steals.
Shaw added 20 points on 6 of 8 shooting. She nailed two 3-pointers and added four steals.
“You have to play defense to come here, that was something I knew,” Shaw said. “I also knew that I wasn’t the best defender. Over the summer, they really took the time to instill that in me. I’m really starting to have fun playing defense.”
Who wouldn’t be having fun with the defensive numbers are throwing up at this point?
“The more we work on it and the better we get at it, our press looks like fresh meat,” Shaw said. “You know where you want to force the ball and what you want them to do. You can see us meshing and really making progress.”
The news wasn’t all exactly great for WVU, which hosts rival Pitt on Tuesday.
For a second game, star guard J.J. Quinerly struggled offensively and got into foul trouble.
She eventually fouled out with 8:25 remaining in the game. WVU already held a 57-point lead at the time, but through two games, Quinerly is connecting on just 32% (8 of 25) of her shots and has been whistled for nine fouls.
“Obviously the foul trouble is limiting her some,” Kellogg said. “She’s playing hard. I thought a couple of them were the kind that just happened to be called fouls. She’s just got to relax. I don’t think it’s a concern, yet, but we do need to get it fixed.”
Quinerly did score 11, as did forward Kylee Blacksten. Kyah Watson added nine points and 13 rebounds.
Freshman forward Jordan Thomas came off the bench to score 14 points in just 12 minutes of action.
“Coming in during the summer, I was hungry to come in and have a big role,” Thomas said. “If you get your jersey called, then you have to do something. I feel like I’ve been playing well.”
