WVU Women’s Basketball Moves Up to No. 22 in AP Poll

WVU Women’s Basketball continued their slow climb up the national leaderboards last week, moving to No. 22 in the AP Top 25 Poll released on Monday thanks to wins over UCF and BYU. 

The Mountaineers stretched their ongoing winning streak to six games in the process, improving to 19-2 on the season (8-2 Big 12). Their ranking marks a one spot improvement from last week, as well as their best rank of the season.

West Virginia continued to improve in a number of categories, ranking inside the national Top 25 in seven major statistical marks as of the games played on Sunday, February 4:

• Turnovers Forced Per Game (24.67, good for No. 2 and the most of any major program)
• Winning Percentage (.905, tied for No. 7)
• Field Goal Percentage (46.49, No. 22)
• Assists Per Game (16.1, No. 47)
• Scoring Defense (55.9 points per game, No. 22)
• Scoring Offense (78.5 points per game, No. 22)
• Steals (14.4 per game, No. 1, led by junior JJ Quinerly’s 3.33 per game, the eighth-best individual mark in the country)
• Turnover Margin (9.43, No. 1)

The Coaches Poll had them ranked No. 22 last week, a mark that will likely improve when this week’s poll comes out on Tuesday, while the NET Rankings also have them at No. 22 after a strong road win over a dangerous BYU team.

WVU Women’s Basketball has a tough week ahead of them. They’ll host a 16-7 Texas Tech team that manages to force turnovers almost as frequently as they do at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, February 6, before heading to Waco, Texas to take on the No. 18 Baylor Bears at 3 p.m. on Saturday, February 10. The Mountaineers still don’t really have a signature win to their name yet this season, but a road win over Baylor could put them well on the way to making big strides in the national rankings next week.