MORGANTOWN — West Virginia won its second consecutive game to get back to even par on the season and survived a fourth-quarter rally against Oklahoma State on Sunday to pull it off.
In her first game back from suffering a concussion, WVU forward Kari Niblack scored 15 points and added five rebounds, as the Mountaineers held off the Cowboys 60-56 inside the Coliseum.
“She is so aggressive. She’s always going for the ball and putting her head out there to go for it,” WVU head coach Mike Carey said of Niblack. “She did hit her head again. She came back in, so I’m sure they’ll look at it after the game. She just played so hard, so aggressive.”
WVU (13-13, 6-10 Big 12) held Oklahoma State to just 33% shooting (20 of 60) and Esmery Martinez added her eighth double-double of the season with 12 points and 14 rebounds.
West Virginia led for nearly 29 minutes of the game, but the outcome was in doubt when OSU guard Lauren Fields connected on two free throws with 30 seconds remaining to cut the Mountaineers lead to 57-55.
WVU led 46-37 heading into the final quarter.
After Oklahoma State (8-17, 3-13) called timeout, WVU forward Jayla Hemingway scored on a driving lay-up for a 59-55 lead with 24 seconds left, and the game became a free-throw shooting contest in the final moments.
“We executed down the stretch and were able to get the win,” Carey said.
Niblack fouled Lexy Keys, but she only connected on one of two free-throw attempts and then WVU guard JJ Quinerly was fouled with eight seconds left.
Quinerly made one of her two free throws for the final score. Fields did get off a last-second 3-point attempt, but the shot fell off the rim.
“I thought Esmery played better the second half,” Carey said. “JJ was right there in that one run and gave us some points.”
WVU had lost five in a row until it went on the road and beat Texas Tech on Wednesday, which was followed up with Sunday’s victory against Oklahoma State.
At 6-10 in Big 12 play, WVU seems destined for the No. 7 seed in the Big 12 tournament, which would be a first-round game against the No. 10 seed, which is currently TCU.
A first-round win would advance WVU to the quarterfinals against the No. 2 seed, which will be either nationally-ranked Iowa State or Baylor.
The Mountaineers still have two games remaining in the regular season, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Kansas State before hosting Iowa State on Saturday.
Quinerly finished with 12 points and six assists for the Mountaineers, which finished with a 30-20 edge in points in the paint against the Cowboys.
Macie James led Oklahoma State with 14 points off the bench. Keys had 13 points.
