MORGANTOWN – The 15th-ranked West Virginia women’s basketball team hosted East Tennessee State on Friday for the annual Education Day contest that welcomed public school students from multiple counties.
The students brought the energy and the Mountaineers (9-1) matched it on the court, defeating the Buccaneers 85-40 inside the WVU Coliseum.
Junior guard Jordan Harrison led all scorers with 17 points, but was only one of four players in double-figures for head coach Mark Kellogg’s crew as Sydney Shaw (15), Kyah Watson (11), and Kylee Blacksten (11) joined her.
WVU leading scorer JJ Quinerly did not appear in the contest due to an injury that Kellogg describes as day-to-day. She was seen with a wrap around her left wrist.
“It was a little bit different out there today without JJ, and I was anxiously excited to see how we would operate without her,” Kellogg said. “I thought some of our girls stepped up in her absence, especially in scoring . It was great to see Kyah break into double-digits, and Sydney and Kylee both played well offensively. Not super thrilled about the turnovers on our end and we will need to work those out as soon as we can.”
The annual Education Day game welcomes students from across the state for special tipoff time that happens during school hours. On Friday, 8,489 young Mountaineer fans packed the Coliseum, letting their voices be heard at any opportunity.
“It’s a different kind of noise, that’s for sure,” Kellogg said. “But we don’t usually have any problem with the early tip or being ready for the game this early. It’s great seeing all the kids come and be excited for our team and we just want to go out and perform the best we can for them. We’re growing to really look forward to this game every season.”
Harrison says it’s always nice to hear the kids screaming for the team, even if they cheer for both the Mountaineers and their opponent at times.
“I tried to let the ones who hadn’t played in this game yet what it would be like,” she laughed. “I told them the kids would scream and maybe even cheer for the wrong team at times, but honestly they were great today and seeing the smiles on the kids faces always pushes us to work hard for them.”
WVU led 44-16 at the halftime break. Shaw scored all 15 of her points in the opening half, shooting 6 for 8 from the field with three triples. She also earned a career-high six steals.
“I think tonight was a feeling-out process and I got comfortable early,” she said. “I started taking the shots I needed to take and they were falling. I knew I had to be more aggressive but didn’t have to try and do too much.”
Harrison earned career milestone as well, surpassing the 1,000-point mark against the Buccaneers.
“I’m definitley proud to have hit that point in my career,” she said. “I haven’t always been known for my scoring in my life so being able to hit 1,000 points faster than I expected is special.”
Harrison added five assists and five rebounds to her game-high 17 points to lead the Mountaineers to their ninth victory early in the campaign.
West Virginia will enjoy an extended break over the next week before hitting the road to visit Temple on December 15.
