AUSTIN, Texas – The No. 21 Mountaineers logged their 10th-straight win, toppling Texas 81-75 in a tough road matchup in Austin, Texas, behind 30 points from Kirsten “KK” Deans and 20 from Kysre Gondrezick.
Still, it was hard to tell who would pull ahead until the last minute of regulation, as the Mountaineers (15-2, 9-2 Big 12) overcame the strong Longhorns (13-5, 7-4) defense to seal the win.
“I knew Texas was going to come out, the way we beat them at our place, they were going to come out extremely hard, and they did,” WVU coach Mike Carey said. “Give our girls a lot of credit, they came out and played to match their intensities. The job that K.K. did, defensively and offensively, was unbelievable. She had a big-time game. They all did.
“This was a tough road win right here.”
What started as a decent lead eventually diminished into the first deficit the Mountaineers faced in the closing minutes of the half, as Texas went on an 8-6 run in the last 2:50 of the second quarter. West Virginia had outscored Texas 18-11 in the first quarter, but a strong effort in the second saw Texas jump ahead by one at the break.
Following the break, the Mountaineers and Longhorns traded the lead seven times before WVU jumped ahead to 55-51, holding the lead throughout. At the end of three, the Mountaineers led 63-58. Yet, after the Mountaineers outscored Texas 24-18 in the third, the Longhorns showed another push as they did in the second quarter, nearly outpacing the Mountaineers. Although the Longhorns came close many times to taking back the lead, either tying or being within hitting a 3, they never were able to complete the comeback. The linchpin came in the final minute, as Madisen Smith was fouled and inevitably sank both free throws to push the Mountaineers lead to 80-74.
Deans hit 50% of her 3-point attempts, going 3 of 6 from beyond the arc, as well as hitting 63% of her field goal attempts in her big night. Gondrezick’s 20 points came off a 44% night from the field, hitting 8 of her 18 attempts. Further, they were two of four Mountaineers in double figures, as Kari Niblack secured 10 points and Esmery Martinez logged a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds.
“They went a little bit trying two on Maddie and Kysre, and that left KK,” Carey said. “And KK took advantage of it. What I was impressed, KK can score, I was more impressed with her defense. Her defense was unbelievable and kept people out of the lane. That second quarter, we were just letting them turn the corner and get downhill on us and that’s how they got 29. We did a lot better job the second half.”
Despite a solid defensive effort by the Mountaineers, the Longhorns were within arm’s reach of a win unlike the two team’s meeting in Morgantown on Jan. 9, when WVU ran the tables for a 92-58 victory. Of the standouts Saturday night, forward Charli Collier led the group with 21 points.
“Our post wasn’t doing a good job,” Carey said. “We were supposed to show and stay attached to her. How many 3s did she hit? Three? That should have never happened. The way our defense was set up, she was not supposed to be open on that. So, we didn’t do a good job on that. She’s a great player, make no doubt about it, but we shouldn’t have given up any of those 3s.”
Collier only had five points in the Mountaineers-Longhorns January meeting.
West Virginia returns to action on Feb. 10 hosting Kansas. Tip is set for 7 p.m.
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