MORGANTOWN — J.J. Quinerly will walk into the T-Mobile Center on Friday night armed with plenty of honors.
Through a vote by the Big 12 women’s basketball coaches, who were not permitted to vote for their own players, Quinerly was named the league’s defensive player of the year, as well as all-Big 12 first team and all defensive team on Tuesday.
Her running mate, sophomore Jordan Harrison, was named all-Big 12 second team and was also named to the league’s all defensive team.
It makes sense both guards were considered two of the top defenders in the Big 12.
WVU (23-6) led the Big 12 with 699 turnovers forced and was second in scoring average, holding opponents to just 57.6 points per game.
For Quinerly, it’s the second time she’s been named to the first team, and it’s the first time a WVU player won the defensive honor.
The junior was second in the league in steals — two behind Harrison — with 88, while leading the team in scoring (19.4 ppg).
She had 14 games with 20 or more points and 10 games with at least four steals.
Harrison transferred to the Mountaineers this season from Stephen F. Austin, where WVU coach Mark Kellogg coached before coming to Morgantown.
She averaged 13.8 points, 5.4 assists per game and led the Big 12 in steals. Harrison also averaged 4.1 rebounds per game.
The Mountaineers earned the No. 6 seed in the Big 12 tournament and await the winner of either UCF or Cincinnati.
Oklahoma senior Skylar Vann and Texas freshman Madison Booker have been named co-players of the year in the Big 12 Conference.
The league announced its award winners Tuesday, when Booker became the first Big 12 freshman to be a player of the year. The 6-foot-1 forward is averaging 16.5 points and 4.9 assists a game overall, with those numbers upped to 20.2 points and 5.5 assists in 18 conference games.
Vann, a 6-foot senior forward, ranks in the league’s top 10 with 15.0 points and 7.2 rebounds a game for the regular-season champion Sooners. She was the league’s sixth player of the year each of the past two seasons.
Oklahoma’s Jennie Baranczyk is coach of the year after the Sooners defended their league title even after replacing four starters from last season’s team. Payton Verhulst, a junior transfer from Louisville, was the Big 12 newcomer of the year averaging 12.7 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.0 assists a game for the Sooners.
Booker was also named Big 12 freshman of the year, and Texas teammate DeYona Gaston the sixth player of the year.
