WVU Women’s Basketball Learns Opponent in Big 12 Tournament

WVU Women’s Basketball earned a first round bye in the Big 12 Tournament after finishing with the sixth-best record in the conference, and on Thursday night they found out who they’ll play when they enter the bracket at 9 p.m. Friday.

With the second-best record of the teams receiving a first round bye, the Mountaineers are set to face the winner of a pair of conference newcomers, No. 11 Cincinnati and No. 14 UCF.

After trailing by double digits at the half, the Bearcats rode a 29 point third quarter to a narrow 67-62 victory over the Knights, setting up their date with the Mountaineers at Kansas City’s T-Mobile Center.

West Virginia swept the Bearcats in the regular season series, eking out a 68-53 win on a poor shooting night in their Big 12 home opener to extend their unbeaten streak to start the year to a season-best 13 games. They managed an even more dominant performance on the road less than three weeks later, obliterating Cincinnati 72-43 and holding the Bearcats without a point for the first 10 minutes and 34 seconds of game time.

WVU Women’s Basketball Looks to Regroup

While the matchup favors the Mountaineers, West Virginia also hasn’t played their best basketball of late. They dropped a pair of ranked matchups against Kansas State and Baylor—losing in heartbreaking fashion in a one possession game both times—before suffering an ugly loss against unranked Oklahoma State that pushed them out of the AP Top 25.

WVU Women’s Basketball got back in the win column during their regular season finale against TCU, but the victory came at a price as Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and National Player of the Year watchlist member JJ Quinerly exited with a knee injury. 

Head coach Mark Kellogg described Quinerly’s status as “day-to-day” earlier this week, and her ability to get healthy could mean the difference between a deep run in the conference tournament and a disappointing early exit.

The winner of No. 6 West Virginia vs No. 11 Cincinnati will advance to face No. 3 Kansas State in the conference quarterfinals at 9 p.m. EST the following night.