WVU WBB Guard JJ Quinerly Named National Award Finalist

Recognition keeps rolling in for JJ Quinerly, the standout shooting guard who helped power WVU Women’s Basketball to a 23-6 regular season record in head coach Mark Kellogg’s first season with the team.

The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame announced on Tuesday afternoon that Quinerly is one of five finalists for the Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard of the Year Award, awarded annually since 2018 to the nation’s best player at the position.

The award is named for Meyers Drysdale, the women’s basketball legend who led UCLA to a National Championship after becoming the first woman to receive a four-year college athletic scholarship—and the first high schooler to make the US National Team, where she helped win a series of gold medals for the red, white and blue. Quinerly is also one of 40 athletes in contention for the National Player of the Year award, also named for Meyers Drysdale.

A Look at the Numbers

Quinerly leads the Mountaineers with 19.4 points per game, good for No. 28 in the nation, while her 3.o3 steals per game (good for No. 12) played a major role in West Virginia’s leading all Power Six schools with an average of 14 steals per game. She’ll have to beat out Ta’Niya Latson of Florida State, Charisma Osborne (UCLA) Paige Bueckers (UConn) and JuJu Watkins (Southern California) in order to take home the title.

Quinerly’s counting stats took a hit over the past month as she missed portions of games with various injuries—although nothing severe enough to make her miss a start. Right now, she’s day-to-day with a knee injury as the Mountaineers prepare for a second round Big 12 Tournament appearance against either UCF or Cincinnati on Friday, March 8.

Fans of WVU Women’s Basketball can play a role in the decision, with fan voting starting at hoophallawards.com on Friday. The fans’ aggregate choice will count as one committee vote during the final selection process, which takes place later in March.