MORGANTOWN — It is still yet without a catchy nickname, but there is no denying the impact the full-court press had on the WVU women’s basketball team a season ago.
“Our press goes off of who we are,” WVU guard J.J. Quinerly said. “We are a hard-working team who loves to go get the ball. Our best attribute of us is our defense.”
That pressing style — the design of head coach Mark Kellogg — led to some impressive stats in his first season with the Mountaineers.
WVU, which finished 25-8 last season, just didn’t have the Big 12’s top player in thefts in Quinerly, the Mountaineers had the conference’s top four players in steals.
Combined, Quinerly, Jordan Harrison, Kyah Watson and Lauren Fields averaged 10.5 steals per game.
There are 349 Division I schools spread out across the country in women’s basketball. Only one — Niagara — had more steals per game last season than the Mountaineers’ 13.6.
“We’ve joked about it. There’s been times where we’ve been like, ‘Did you just hear what she said?’” Quinerly said when asked about seeing the defensive pressure wear on opponents. “They’ll say stuff or say certain things and you’ll catch it. It’s kind of funny. We just laugh and try to keep that pressure on them.”
Kellogg’s hope is to keep that pressure going in his second season, knowing full well that WVU’s opponents now have the Mountaineers’ full-court press on film and can be better prepared to attack it.
“It evolves, but it’s always personnel-based,” Kellogg begins his explanation. “Some of our personnel didn’t change, and they’re pretty good. They’ll still be pretty good at it, just because of who they are.”
There will be subtle changes made to the press in Year 2, so subtle that not all of them may be noticeable. It’s all part of an ongoing cat-and-mouse game played on the coaching end.
“It does happen throughout the year that teams begin to pick up on it, so they are going to counter with this,” Kellogg continued. “It’s our job to counter to what they counter with.
“That back-and-forth, that’s Coaching 101. That’s the fun part of it. The basic structure stays the same. We don’t teach it any differently. I do say it takes on a life of its own, based on the kids you have and the type of defenders they are.”
Quinerly and Harrison will still be the agitators up front, harassing the opposing guards with their quickness.
For added measure, Kellogg signed former Long Beach State standout Sydney Woodley as a transfer this season. She was eighth in the nation with 104 steals last season.
“That kid (on Monday) was touching every single pass, it felt like, in practice,” Kellogg said of Woodley. “She’s done some good stuff on the defensive end.”
Watson is a more versatile defender, Kellogg said. The Mountaineers have better depth than last season, allowing more players to catch a breather and rest up before going back out and causing chaos.
“Other teams may have scouted it now, but our pressure is really hard to get comfortable with,” Harrison said. “I feel like our press is still going to be effective. Our pressure is too hard to practice for.”
If WVU’s full-court pressure was a game-changer in Kellogg’s first season. All signs seem to be pointing to a much better encore.
“Is it a bigger impact? I don’t know,” Kellogg said. “It will probably depend game to game. It will be part of our identity. We should win that turnover battle most nights.”
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