FORT WORTH, Texas — The WVU women’s basketball team completed the season sweep over TCU, after defeating the Horned Frogs 70-62 on Wednesday at Schollmaier Arena in Fort Worth.
With the win, West Virginia (11-8, 4-5 Big 12) has now won four consecutive meetings against TCU.
WVU was led by senior guard Madisen Smith, who tallied a season-high 18 points, and was one of three players to tally 10 points or more in the game. Smith was joined in double figures by freshman guard JJ Quinerly (16) and junior forward Esmery Martinez (11).
Additionally, senior forward Kari Niblack tallied eight points in the games to eclipse 1,000 career points. She becomes the 38th 1,000-point scorer in program history and now has 1,002 tallies in her four seasons at WVU.
Martinez, Niblack and Quinerly all tied for the team lead in rebounding, with six board apiece.
Martinez struck first from 3-point range to get WVU on the board, but TCU followed with a 7-0 run on its end of the court to take the lead. The Mountaineers came out shooting well and ripped off a 10-0 scoring stretch of their own, which included 3’s from Quinerly and Smith, to take a 12-7 lead at the first media timeout.
Both teams added a pair of free throws after the break and commenced to trade scores for the remainder of the quarter. West Virginia held a 20-15 lead over TCU heading into the second quarter
West Virginia got up by 10 to begin the second period thanks in part to a 3-pointer from junior guard Jayla Hemingway. TCU attempted to chip away at WVU’s lead, but an and-1 conversion from sophomore guard Savannah Samuel got the Mountaineers back up by double digits.
The Horned Frogs narrowly outscored West Virginia 7-5 over the next two minutes to cut into the lead. WVU led TCU, 33-25, at the second-quarter media break.
The Mountaineers got a pair of scores from Niblack to close out the quarter, but TCU countered with six points on its end of the court to cut WVU’s lead to 37-31 at halftime.
Niblack scored the first points of the second half for her 1,000th career point. Quinerly then scored to get WVU back up by 10 points.
TCU cut West Virginia’s lead back to six over the next two minutes, but a pair of free throws from Martinez kept the Mountaineers in front 46-38 at the media break.
After the Horned Frogs cut WVU’s lead back to six, West Virginia responded with a 7-2 run, which put them ahead by 11 heading into the final quarter.
The Mountaineers’ advantage was once again cut to six points after TCU opened the quarter on a 5-0 run. However, WVU countered with an and-1 from Quinerly and another score from Martinez to get its lead back to 11 points. Following another Horned Frogs’ score, West Virginia tacked on two more buckets to lead 62-49 at the final media break.
Following the timeout, TCU scored five answered points to cut WVU’s lead to eight, but the Mountaineers continued to respond to the Horned Frogs’ attack. West Virginia led by 10 with 50 seconds remaining in the game.
Despite a few attempts to cut into the Mountaineer lead, TCU could not overcome the deficit, as Smith sank five free throws over the final minute of the contest to secure the victory.
Next up, West Virginia remains on the road and travels to Norman, Okla., on Saturday to take on Oklahoma for the second time this season. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman. Saturday’s contest against the Sooners will be broadcast on Bally Sports Oklahoma.
