WVU Women’s Basketball Survives Late Push at Colorado

WVU Women’s Basketball gutted out a 61-55 road win over Colorado on Wednesday, Feb. 4, scoring the crucial next basket four times in the final five minutes after the Buffaloes managed to cut within one possession.

After the first ten minutes of play, one might’ve expected the No. 20 Mountaineers (19-5, 9-3 Big 12) to have a track meet on their hands. After the Buffaloes erased an early 18-10 lead, Jordan Harrison sank two threes in the final 45 seconds of the first quarter, putting West Virginia in front 24-19. Harrison amassed 11 points in the frame, going on to lead the Mountaineers with 18 points in all.

Despite making eight of 15 shots in the first quarter (including five of seven from three), West Virginia made just 37.2 percent of their shots the rest of the way. Riley Makalusky added two triples off the bench in the second quarter — including one off an offensive rebound that ended a near-four minute scoring drought and snatched the lead back from Colorado — but beyond her efforts, the Mountaineers missed all nine of their threes the rest of the way.

Instead, they focused on attacking the rim as their shots stopped falling, but did so with limited success. Both teams fell into protracted shooting slumps in the second half: Colorado bookended the break with a scoring drought that lasted more than five minutes and, after four quick points to start the frame, the Mountaineers managed just one basket over the next 6:49 of game time.

Although their offense dried up, West Virginia managed to hold the Buffaloes to just 19 of 53 shots made from the field, leaning on their defense until they staggered across the finish line.

Up next, WVU Women’s Basketball will host Arizona at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 7.