WVU Women Power Through to Win Ugly Backyard Brawl Over Pitt

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The ‘brawl’ part of Backyard Brawl was on full display Tuesday night as the No. 15 WVU women won an ugly, physical meeting against arch-rival Pitt, 82-54, inside the WVU Coliseum.

Neither team shot the ball well as WVU (3-0) was 27-68 from the floor and Pitt (2-1) finished 19-58.

“They call it the Backyard Brawl for a reason,” WVU’s JJ Quinerly said. “We didn’t see a lot of shots go in like we usually do, so we had to grind it out.”

It was clear from tipoff that this edition of the Backyard Brawl would not be a thing of beauty as missed shots and turnovers dominated the early proceedings for both sides.

It took nearly the entire first quarter for either team to reach double figures as Celia Riviere’s layup with 1:29 play finally pushed the Mountaineers to 10 points.

In the first frame alone, the teams combined for more turnovers (12) than field goals (nine). 

The Mountaineers were first to find their footing as their disruptive full-court defense began to really affect the Panthers in the second quarter. In the second frame alone, Pitt turned the ball over nine times, which WVU turned into a dozen points.

“We’re off to a good start this year turning people over,” WVU coach Mark Kellogg said. “If we’re not making shots, that at least allows us to find some easy offense.”

The Mountaineers also got to the free-throw line twice as often as Pitt in the first half (12-6), contributing to a 35-25 advantage at halftime.

In the third quarter, Quinerly finally started to look like herself. Mired in an early-season slump, Quinerly led all scorers with 17 points, but was terribly inefficient, showing just 7-23 from the floor and 0-10 from range.

“Not seeing the ball go in can be a little frustrating, but as long as I can get to the hoop and get to the foul line, maybe I can see a three go in,” Quinerly said.

In the third, however, Quinerly started deflecting inbounds passes and hitting the driving mid-range shots that she has for her entire career. She was 3-4 on two-pointers in the third, but 0-3 on treys.

“I just think you have to keep working, and she’s a worker,” Kellogg said of his slumping star. “The more she sees the ball go through the hoop, the more comfortable she’s going to get.”

A 7-0 WVU run, punctuated by a Quinerly mid-range jumper, pushed the Mountaineers’ lead to 16, 48-32, midway through the third quarter.

The Panthers looked to have wrestled back some momentum with a 9-4 run late in the frame, but Sydney Woodley’s steal and fastbreak and-one with four seconds left pushed WVU’s back up to 56-41.

West Virginia dominated the fourth quarter, outsourcing Pitt 26-13 to seal the victory.

Quinerly’s 17 points paced the Mountaineers while Jordan Harrison added 14. Sydney Shaw scored 11 points with three three-pointers. Kyah Watson led on the glass with eight rebounds and freshman Jordan Thomas had six.

Khadija Faye led the Panthers with 14 points and 12 rebounds but fouled out in the fourth quarter.

The Mountaineers have won seven straight Backyard Brawls and nine of the last 10, dating back to 2010.

This is the last Backyard Brawl on the books, however, as the universities have not agreed upon future meetings.

“We would continue it, I don’t think they want it to continue,” Kellogg said. “You would have to ask them.”

The Mountaineers are right back at it on Friday, hosting Texas A&M in the Coliseum at 7 p.m.

For a related story, the WVU women moved up to No. 15 in the first AP Top 25 Poll of the season.