WVU Women’s Basketball Loses Third Straight Game

WVU Women’s Basketball saw their road to a double bye in the first two rounds of the Big 12 Tournament get a lot tougher on Tuesday night, as the No. 24 Mountaineers lost their third game in a row, 68-61 loss on the road against a middling Oklahoma State team. 

As they have in other losses this season, the Mountaineers displayed an overcommitment to the three-ball, attempting nearly half their shots from beyond the arc… and making them at a paltry 24 percent clip.

Oklahoma State played to a 6-3 lead early, then JJ Quinerly, Lauren Fields and Jayla Hemingway each sank threes within a span of 2:12 to go ahead 12-10. It was the last time they’d hold the lead all game, and the Mountaineers scored just three more threes over the last 34 minutes of game time.

The Sooners methodically built their lead from there, staying one step ahead of each West Virginia scoring rally with the help of fouls and turnovers committed from the Mountaineers.

Oklahoma State guard Anna Gret Asi nailed a three from beyond half court at the buzzer to give the Sooners a 35-26 lead heading into the half. The deficit quickly moved to double digits in the third period, especially as Quinerly and Jordan Harrison began to get into foul trouble.

Mountaineers Can’t Mount a Comeback

West Virginia’s defense held strong to open the final period, allowing just one Sooners basket in the first six minutes of the frame as the Mountaineers began to chip away at the lead—but their offense couldn’t manage much better, making just two of ten field goal attempts in that same span.

Gret Asi made another three to end the scoring freeze, pushing the lead to double digits and helping to end any hope of a comeback.

WVU Women’s Basketball moves to 22-6 on the season (11-6 Big 12). They now have a matching conference record with Baylor, but as the Bears hold the head-to-head tiebreaker, West Virginia needs Baylor to lose their final game in order to secure a double bye in the conference tournament.

The Mountaineers’ regular season schedule comes to a close starting at 1 p.m. Saturday, when they host the TCU Horned Frogs.