JJ Quinerly Climbs WVU Women’s Basketball All-Time Ranks

JJ Quinerly’s standout season continued on Saturday, with the junior guard inching her way closer to an all-time statistical category for WVU Women’s Basketball as a program.

The junior guard recorded five steals in the No. 23 Mountaineers’ win over BYU, giving her 204 steals for her career and making her the 12th Mountaineer to ever cross the 200 steal benchmark.

The 12th player in program history to reach 200 career steals!#HailWV | @Hoops11Jj pic.twitter.com/edQTeSSuMr

— WVU Women's Basketball (@WVUWBB) February 4, 2024

The milestone takeaway occurred with 5:22 remaining in the first period, setting her up for a quick layup that gave West Virginia a 14-5 lead.

Going by Quinerly’s season average of 3.3 steals per game and a minimum of ten games remaining in the Mountaineers’ season—eight regular season contests; along with likely Big 12 and NCAA Tournament appearances—Quinerly could reach as high as 237 steals this season, if not even higher… which would be good for the No. 7 mark in Mountaineers’ history.

Talisha Harris set the program’s all time record in the 1990s with 355. It’s a mark that Quinerly could challenge by the end of next season, although it certainly won’t be easy. 

As of right now, Quinerly sits No. 8 in the nation in steals per game. She’ll need 15 more to crack the Mountaineers’ single season top ten. Jenny Hillen set the program record with 114 in 1989. Much like Harris’ record, that number is within reach, but it’ll take an all-time finish to the season for Quinerly to pull it off. 

WVU Women’s Basketball currently sits No. 2 in the nation with 24.67 turnovers forced per game, the most of any major program, while their 14.4 steals per game sits No. 1. It goes without saying that Quinerly is a major reason for those marks.