MORGANTOWN — Anyone who thinks that basketball games are won down the stretch didn’t catch the West Virginia’s women’s basketball team’s 84-76 victory against Cincinnati on Sunday, inside Fifth Third Arena.
The Mountaineers ran out to a 43-26 halftime lead, only to let the Bearcats (7-12, 2-5 Big 12) creep back into the game in the second half.
“I don’t even know where to start,” WVU head coach Mark Kellogg. “I thought we were pretty good for two-and-a-half quarters. I thought we were really bad for a quarter-and-a-half. Credit Cincinnati for some of the stuff they did. They started to make shots at a pretty high rate.”
The Bearcats shot nearly 60% (19 of 32) over the second half, while outsourcing the Mountaineers 50-41. WVU led the game by 26 points midway through the third quarter, but Cincinnati battled back to as close as seven points with 4:26 remaining in the game.
“Some of that was our lackluster defense,” Kellogg said. “They still had to make shots, and they did. We just needed to finish that one. We were up 26 points and completely let off the gas.”
Overall, WVU (15-4, 5-2) was still good enough to improve to 5-0 in true road games this season, while also dominating the game down low. The Mountaineers scored 56 points in the paint and 20 second-chance points on 13 offensive rebounds.
“I think we have a pretty good offensive rebounding team, as well,” Kellogg said. “They are elite on the offensive glass, but I thought we did a good job. Extra possessions there we gained a little bit. Second-chance points, I thought we converted a little better there than they did.”
WVU had five players in double figures, led by Kierra Wheeler’s 17 points. Jordan Thomas came off the bench and maybe had her best game of the season with 12 points in 17 minutes of action.
Sydney Woodley also had 12 points off the bench and she also added three steals. Jordan Harrison and Carter McCray both scored 10.
The game itself was filled with fouls and turnovers. Both teams combined for 43 fouls, 45 free-throw attempts and 43 turnovers.
“Both teams turned it over too much and there were a million fouls,” Kellogg said. “The game had no flow whatsoever. It was pretty ugly to watch if you were a fan.”
The win kept the Mountaineers in contention for the Big 12 title in what will likely be a logjam of six schools all taking shots for the top spot. WVU is one game back of TCU, Texas Tech and Baylor in the league standings, but already has lost against TCU and Texas Tech.
Utah and Oklahoma State are also tied with WVU for fourth place.
Cincinnati was led by Mya Perry, who finished with 18 points and went 4 of 7 from 3-point range.
