HOUSTON — J.J. Quinerly had 16 of her 20 points in the first quarter, 13 in a game-opening 20-0 burst, and No. 18 West Virginia rolled to a 79-51 win over Houston on Saturday at the Fertitta Center.
In the process, the Mountaineers (19-4, 9-3 Big 12) officially joined what appears will be a wild ride to the finish for the Big 12 regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament.
With No. 12 Kansas State losing to No. 25 Oklahoma State on Saturday, the league now features six schools all within one game of each other for the title, including the Mountaineers, who haven’t won a conference championship since 2014.
Baylor, TCU and Utah are also in the hunt along with WVU, K-State and Oklahoma State with six games remaining in the regular season.
Quinerly and Jordan Harrison combined for all 25 points in the first quarter when the Mountaineers took a 25-4 lead and Quinerly had 18 at halftime when the lead was 37-18.
Harrison finished with 14 points for West Virginia. Sydney Shaw added 13 points and Kyah Watson 12.
Gia Cooke led Houston (5-19, 1-12) with 16 points. Laila Blair had 10 points and Kierra Merchant had 10 rebounds.
The Cougars had 26 turnovers, the 19th time West Virginia’s defense forced 20-plus turnovers. That led to 39 points. It was also the third consecutive game WVU held an opponent to under 55 points.
Watson had five steals and also grabbed eight rebounds. West Virginia was 10 of 18 in the first quarter with three 3s, Houston was 2 for 14 with 11 turnovers.
Harrison had 12 points at halftime when the Mountaineers shot 52% and Houston shot 23% with 16 turnovers, which were turned into 25 points.
Shaw had 13 points in the second half for West Virginia and Cooke 14 for Houston.
West Virginia plays at Baylor on Tuesday.
