Read More: Kellogg Praises His Team’s Performance In Joint Press Conference
Chapel Hill NC-West Virginia’s Women’s Basketball Team is set to compete in the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year following their victory over Columbia in the first round Saturday afternoon.
Quinerly Continues Her Dominant Season
JJ Quinerly became only the seventh Mountaineer in men’s or women’s basketball to surpass 2,000 career points during Saturday’s matchup, Quinerly currently sits at No. 3 on WVU Women’s Basketball all-time scoring list after her 27- point performance. Quinerly also made her presence known defensively with seven steals and four rebounds.
Kellogg Praises JJ
“If we had a Mount Rushmore, JJ Quinerly should be on that list,” Kellogg said. “I think she’s solidifying herself with the steals and the points and the loyalty and staying for four years in an era where that’s very unlikely, especially through three coaching changes. That’s normally kids transfer three times, not stay through three coaches. Really, really proud of her.”
Mark Kellogg On His Team’s Performance
Saturday’s game was the Mountaineers’ first in two weeks, while Columbia played their First Four game Thursday. Despite the long break, West Virginia showed no signs of rust as they jumped to an early 18-10 lead, converting on eight of their first nine shots of the game.
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“I was a little worried in certain senses for the first three, four, five minutes of that game,” Kellogg said. “I knew we were excited, but like I said the other day at the press conference, I thought we had learned our lesson a little bit from the Big 12 Tournament and maybe even a year ago when we had the long layoff before Princeton because we were down at half against Princeton a year ago in this game. “I just thought our kids had regrouped and came out with just fantastic energy, and we kind of used the word punch first a little bit, and I thought we got them a little bit there early.”
Read: Hall Places Third to Finish WVU Career at the NCAA Championships.
Mountaineers To Face-Off Against The Tar Heels
West Virginia is now one win away from the Sweet 16 competition, this would mark only their second Sweet 16 in program history. The Mountaineers will take on the North Carolina Tar Heels on Monday in the round of 32.
Coach Kellogg responded to the upcoming matchup against North Carolina and playing for the Sweet 16 saying; “Yeah, this is what we talked about a year ago, Obviously, we were at Iowa and had a great game and a great game plan. It comes quick, but we’ll go prepare and have another opportunity in front of us to leave a legacy, and that’s what our kids want to do. It’s what you want to do as a coach. I’m really just excited for them and to get to coach them one more time at least, but certainly we’re going to go into that game.”
