LUBBOCK, Texas — J.J. Quinerly scored 17 of her 21 points in the first half when No. 17 West Virginia held Texas Tech to 17 points, and the Mountaineers beat the Lady Raiders 89-53 on Wednesday night, inside the United Supermarkets Arena.
“For the most part, I thought we were pretty complete for this one,” WVU head coach Mark Kellogg said. “We wanted to be disruptive. We’ve talked about playing complete games. Outside of the third quarter, I thought we were complete and efficient.”
The Mountaineers scored the first 11 points of the game and led 20-2 before settling for a 24-8 lead after one quarter with Quinerly scoring 11. Then West Virginia ended the second quarter on a 14-2 run to lead 42-17 at halftime.
West Virginia shot 54.5% and went 16 of 16 from the foul line in the first half, while the Lady Raiders shot 28% with just two free-throw attempts and had 14 turnovers.
“I think this team is just very relentless,” said Quinerly, who added seven steals to give her 275 for her career, good enough for sixth place on the school’s all-time thefts list. “Whoever is on the court, we’re going to go out and play as hard as we can. Our defense leads to easier offense, which is good for us.”
Jordan Harrison added 20 points, going 12 of 12 from the foul line, for the Mountaineers (13-2, 3-1 Big 12 Conference) and Sydney Shaw scored 19, 16 coming in the second half. Kylee Blacksten and Celia Riviere both had 10.
“We like our group, but it’s a long year. It’s a grind,” Kellogg said. “I think we’re excited about what we can achieve. I’ve really liked us since the Christmas break. I think we’ve practiced better and we’ve been a little more intentional. J.J. has been really good from the break, and she’s obviously the leader of this group. We go as she goes in certain ways.”
Bailey Maupin scored 15 points for Texas Tech (12-5, 1-3). The Lady Raiders finished with 26 turnovers and 25 fouls.
Maupin hit a 3-pointer with two minutes to go in the third quarter to give the Lady Raiders 35 points, but the deficit was still 25 entering the fourth.
West Virginia opened the fourth quarter with a 16-3 surge to lead by 38, as Texas Tech went more than five minutes without a field goal because of six turnovers.
The Mountaineers finished at 51% for the game – the seventh time WVU has shot better than 50% this season – and made 28 of 31 free throws. It was the eighth time this season the Mountaineers won by more than 30 or more points.
WVU plays at Oklahoma State at 3 p.m. Saturday. Both teams are 3-1 in Big 12 play. The Mountaineers have lost their last two meetings against the Cowgirls and haven’t won at Gallagher-Iba Arena since 2022.
“Win the next one and you continue to keep yourself in position to do some special things on the back end,” Kellogg said. “I really like this team. I love going to work every single day. They’re fun to be around in practice. I’m just trying to get the most out of them and see what we can do.”
