MORGANTOWN — If you ask J.J. Quinerly, she explains her opening to the season as trying to do too much and getting caught up in the emotions that come with it.
WVU women’s coach Mark Kellogg simplified that with the “slump” word.
Whatever the case may be, the WVU star guard seems to have it all in the rear-view mirror, as the 12th-ranked Mountaineers head to the Gulf Cost Showcase in Estero, Fla. to face High Point (Pa.) at 1:30 p.m. Friday.
“She seems much more relaxed now,” Kellogg said. “The games are coming to her and she’s taking the normal J.J. Quinerly shots. She’s shooting it better than she was her first few games. The percentages look pretty good, the assists have been better.
“Yeah, I think we’re getting her now at her complete self.”
The comparison of numbers are a night-and-day difference.
Through the first three games, Quinerly was shooting 31% from the field. Don’t even bother to ask what her numbers were behind the 3-point line.
She had no assists in the season opener. By the end of the second game, Quinerly had more fouls (9) than baskets (8).
Her turnover rate was astounding, averaging 4.75 of those per game through the first four games of the season.
Here’s how much it’s changed: Quinerly is 9 of 16 (56%) from 3-point range over WVU’s last three games and she’s been whistled for just one foul in each of those games.
She’s collected 14 assists in the last three games, while averaging 20.0 points per game.
“There was a little bit of rust for me at the start,” Quinerly said. “I’m trying to get back to a good point and I look for my teammates to help me out.”
The 12th-ranked Mountaineers (6-0) are currently at a good point. WVU’s national ranking is the highest its been since 2017, and the Mountaineers have used their chaotic full-court press to outscore their opponents by nearly 44 points per game.
They will enter the Gulf Coast Showcase seemingly on a collision course to meet No. 5 Texas in Sunday’s finals, yet Kellogg knows well enough not to assume anything.
A victory against High Point (3-3) would set WVU up against the winner of the Boise State-Illinois State game on Saturday.
“Boise State and Illinois State are both great and both have Power Five wins already this year,” Kellogg said. “There is no, necessarily, Texas yet. We’ve got a lot of work to do before that.”
Illinois State (2-2) opened the season with a win against Northwestern, while Boise State (6-0) owns a win against Colorado.
“You don’t know exactly who you’re going to play, so that’s the tricky part,” Kellogg said. “We’ll have it divided up among the coaches, so we will be prepared from a coaching standpoint.
“There will be parts of practice geared toward different opponents. As we go through the scouts, we’ll pick out some things that teams will want to do against us or what we’ll want to go against them. As we get later in the week, it will strictly be about High Point.”
However the tournament’s schedule plays out, Quinerly expects to have the best version of her game on the floor.
“We need to find our identity all-around, especially since we’re about to play some better teams,” she said. “I think there’s a lot more to come for me. I’m definitely trying to get back to that point.”
