WVU Women’s Basketball Destroys UCF at Hope Coliseum

WVU Women’s Basketball picked up one of their most dominant wins of the season on Wednesday, Feb. 11, shredding UCF 106-56 at home. Six Mountaineers finished in double digits: bench forward Riley Makalusky led the field with 20 points in 20 minutes.

No. 19 West Virginia (21-5, 11-3 Big 12) dominated in every facet of the game, scoring 66 points in the paint; 52 points came from the bench as each of the 11 Mountaineers who managed to log a minute scored at least two points. They outrebounded the Knights 42-26, forced 23 turnovers that turned into 41 points and racked up 25 assists on 44 shots made. Jordan Harrison (12 points, eight assists, four steals) scored nine points in the first quarter as part of a 20-2 run that immediately put the Mountaineers in the driver’s seat.

Makalusky went 3-for-4 from beyond the arc in the second quarter, two of her makes coming in a span of 28 seconds on the way into the half. Head coach Mark Kellogg played his starters for all but three of the potential 50 minutes in the third quarter, blowing the game open with a 31-point onslaught that put the game well out of reach.

The Mountaineers’ defense lightened up in the second half, allowing 12 of 26 shots to fall after limiting the Knights to 36.7 percent shooting in the second half, but it didn’t matter as they managed to score at will.

WVU Women’s Basketball will return to action at No. 17 TCU at 8 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 15.