Domination in Turnover Battle Key to WVU Women’s Basketball Shellacking Bearcats

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Mark Kellogg’s WVU women’s basketball team was able to run a defensive clinic against the Cincinnati Bearcats in the opening round of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament, as they forced 23 turnovers and picked up 13 steals, with 15 of those turnovers coming in the first half. Kellogg’s group has prided themselves on being able to contain teams defensively in conference play despite being undersized in most if not all of their conference games.

“Our defense really took over [in the first quarter],” Kellogg said. “They really allowed us to get going on the offensive end.”

West Virginia’s ability to suffocate the Bearcats on the defensive side of the ball was a catalyst to their ability to generate a gargantuan lead early, forcing three shot-clock violations in the first half alone. After previously succumbing the Bearcats to a scoreless first quarter on the season, the early going of this game was a clear demonstration that the Mountaineers have figured out a formula to dominate on the defensive end against this Cincinnati group despite them having a clear size advantage.

“Teams have had a size advantage on us all season this is nothing new,” said Kellogg. “The way we play defense we can overcome it.”

While turnovers and winning the turnover margin are usually a key asset to a victory, garnering points off of them is the more challenging endeavor. The Mountaineers led in that department 14-2 after the first half, with six of those points coming off the fastbreak but the bulk of them coming from open kickouts to the three-point line. They would finish the game with a 20-7 advantage in that department, as they cooled down in the second half with a large lead.

A 17-0 run in the first quarter defined this game, and most of that run came off of quick buckets off of repeated instances of consecutive turnovers from the Bearcats. Six steals from Laura Fields and three steals from Kyah Watson categorized that run, as it allowed for the Mountaineers to put the game far out of reach and produced yet another game where Kellogg seldomly used his timeouts.

West Virginia’s defense was a huge reason their scoreless run of over six minutes to begin the second half went largely unpunished, as Cincinnati only tallied six points in that same time frame. Cincinnati guard Jillian Hayes expressed how that reality was a cause for frustration for her group.

“I mean it is frustrating when you’re playing so well on the defensive end but you’re met with the same intensity on the other,” Hayes said. “Part of it is us not getting shots to fall but a lot of it is their ability to play hard defense.”

A big aspect of West Virginia’s ability to turn around a game is the fact that Kellogg rarely calls timeouts, he’s preached all season that his belief is to let his team figure it out and that mentality breeds some quick shifts in games where other teams would normally be in a huddle.

“I believe in my time at [Stephen F. Austin] I didn’t call a single timeout in conference play,” Kellogg said. “I’m not a big timeout taker, I just like to let them figure it out and get out of their own messes.”

One of the main reasons the first-year head coach is able to employ that philosophy, is the conditioning of some of the players on his team. Specifically Watson, who has played the full 40 minutes on some occasions, as she racked up 36 minutes on Friday night.

“I don’t really notice it sometimes,” Watson said. “I just go out there and play.”

The constant turnovers created a lack of possessions for Cincinnati, as despite having six more offensive rebounds than the Mountaineers the Bearcats attempted two less shots at 7% less shooting. Naturally in a game like this however, with a team like the Mountaineers that has the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year playing with a lingering injury, they will let their foot off the gas. But the first half when WVU’s foot was firmly all systems go, served as a much more accurate representation of how this team can take a game away.

The Mountaineers have a tough task awaiting them in No. 3 seeded Kansas State, a team that they lost to 73-64 in overtime on the road earlier in the season. In that game West Virginia was able to win the points off of turnover battle 23-11, and they will need something similar to pull off the win as the underdog in a crucial game.