WVU Women’s Basketball Reaches Highest AP Rank of Season

WVU Women’s Basketball continues their methodical climb through the AP Poll rankings this week, listed at No. 23—their highest mark of the season so far—in the poll released on Monday, January 29. They leapfrogged UNC, who fell four spots with a double-digit loss to UVA.

The Mountaineers played just one game last week, but they certainly made the most of it, fighting off a dangerous Iowa State Cyclones team for an 84-78 home win behind a career-best 31 points from junior guard JJ Quinerly.

West Virginia forces the second most turnovers of any team in the country, and the most of any major program, with 24.89 per game. It’s a hallmark of first year head coach Mark Kellogg’s aggressive full-court press defense, and helps spark the Mountaineers’ offense breaking back up the court.

Their 17-2 record gives them the nation’s 11th-best winning percentage, while their 6-2 margin in the Big 12 is good for No. 3 in the conference. Other statistical categories that favor the Mountaineers include:

• Field Goal Percentage (45.98, good for No. 33)
• Assists Per Game (16.4, No. 44)
• Scoring Defense (55.8 points per game, No. 26)
• Scoring Offense ( 78.3 points per game, No. 27)
• Steals (14.9 per game, No. 1, led by Quinerly’s 3.4 per game, good for No. 6 individually)
• Turnover Margin (9.53, No. 1)

When looking at other ranking systems, WVU Women’s Basketball sit at No. 24 in the NET Rankings, which take game location and strength of opponent into account, while last week’s Coaches Poll had them at No. 23. This week they’ll play a pair of games, hosting the UCF Knights at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 30 before traveling to Utah to take on BYU at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 3.