WVU Women’s Basketball

WVU Uses Late Second-Half Rally to Defeat Oklahoma State, 67-59

Published

3 years ago

January 16, 2021

Oklahoma State led by as many as 12 points in the second half against West Virginia on Saturday, but the Mountaineers fought back with a 24-point fourth quarter to defeat the visiting Cowgirls, 67-59.

OSU junior Ja’Mee Asberry made a layup with 5:58 left in the third quarter that put the Cowgirls up 42-30 over the Mountaineers. From that point on, West Virginia (10-2, 4-2 Big 12) took control, outscoring Oklahoma State (9-4, 5-2) 37-17 down the stretch. WVU shot 7 of 11 with two 3-pointers in a 24-point fourth quarter.

“I’m very proud of the team,” WVU coach Mike Carey said. “It would have been very easy for the team to fold when we went down 10, but they didn’t. They showed a lot of determination to come back and win the game. I’m very proud of them.”

WVU was without leading scorer Kysire Gondrezick, who was attending her father’s funeral Saturday. Sophomore guard Kirsten Deans stepped up in her absence, scoring a team-high 18 points on 6 of 9 shooting. Madisen Smith (14 points), Kari Niblack and Esmery Martinez (12) also scored in double figures. Martinez also had 10 rebounds for her eighth-straight double-double.

Asberry lead the scoring for OSU with a game-high 24 points on 9 of 23 shooting. Senior forward Natasha Mack finished with a double-double, scoring 15 points and 12 rebounds.

West Virginia will stay in Morgantown to host Kansas State this week. WVU and KSU will tip-off at 7 p.m. on Wednesday from the WVU Coliseum. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.