TEMPE, Ariz. — J.J. Quinerly scored 29 points, Kylee Blacksten added a career-high 24, as No. 16 West Virginia raced to an 89-59 win over Arizona State on Wednesday night for the 900th victory in the program’s history.
Jordan Harrison scored 11 points with eight assists and Sydney Shaw added 10 points for the Mountaineers (16-3, 6-2 Big 12 Conference), who won the only other meeting between the teams in 1989.
“Proud of the group, we needed to come on the road and find our road identity,” WVU head coach Mark Kellogg said. “We’ve been impressive at home and let things slip on the road. It was our 900th win as a program and it’s awesome for the university and the ones who played before us.”
It was a career night for Blacksten, who went 3 of 5 from 3-point range and a perfect 7 of 7 from the foul line. It was the first time she’s scored more than 17 points this season, but the fourth time over the last five games that the forward reached double figures.
“That’s something you always try to grow, whether it’s on the defensive end or offensive end, it’s constantly wanting to improve in any aspect of your game,” Blacksten said. “I’ve grown in the low post area because I didn’t grow up playing there, so it’s kind of a switch mentally.”
Jalyn Brown scored 12 points for the Sun Devils (8-12, 2-6), who have lost five straight. Kennedy Fauntleroy added 14 points and seven rebounds and Jyah Lovett had 10 points.
“I felt like we came out a little flat, obviously,” Arizona State head coach Natasha Adair said. “Then we made a push in the second (quarter), but just talked more about the consistency of energy and effort. We worked on West Virginia’s pressure, and that was kind of the key stat. They turned teams over probably 20 plus turnovers a game, and you could see they had 24 points off turnovers. They kind of rattled us a little bit.”
Quinerly had 10 points as the Mountaineers hit 10 of 15 shots to race out to a 28-9 lead after one quarter.
West Virginia was 4 of 6 on 3-pointers while the Sun Devils were 4 of 14 overall.
It was the seventh time this season the WVU guard scored 20 or more in a game.
“She’s the spark and can be an instant offense,” Kellogg said. “She can get it going from every level and you see her speed and quickness. She’s the most dynamic player I’ve coached and you see it tonight. When she gets going and is in the proverbial zone she’s hard to stop.”
The Mountaineers cooled to a 3-of-13 shooting second quarter, but Arizona State was still just 5 of 11 and only cut the gap to 36-23 at halftime. WVU surpassed 80 points for the second straight game and the 89 points tied its season high against Big 12 competition this season.
West Virginia regained its shooting touch in the third quarter and went 9 of 9 from the foul line, led by Blacksten, who made all five of her free throws and scored 13 points. That stretched the lead to as many as 29 before Arizona State made it 63-38 entering the fourth quarter.
West Virginia made nine 3-pointers and shot 50% overall and 24 of 27 from the foul line. Arizona State shot 41.5% with just five 3s and went 10 of 17 from the line.
The Mountaineers play at Arizona on Saturday.
