Read More: West Virginia Falls to UNC In Second Round Of NCAA Tournament
Chapel Hill NC- West Virginia Women’s Basketball suffered a heart breaking defeat to the North Carolina Tar Heels (58-47) in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. This loss results in West Virginia’s second straight exit from the second round of the tournament.
First Quarter
Playing on the Tar Heels home court, West Virginia got off to a slow start as the Tar Heels score the first of the game as WVU started just 1 of 6 from the floor. Despite the unfavorable start, the Mountaineers kept pace with the Tar Heels as the Mountaineers turned the tables on North Carolina through their dominant press defense.
West Virginia was able to force six turnovers over the final seven minutes of the first half. The Tar Heels led 12-4 prior to a lay up from Sydney Shaw and a jumper from JJ Quinerly cut North Carolina’s lead in half. Jordan Thomas scored four straight points for the Mountaineers to close on an eight-point run to tie the game at 12 going into the second quarter.
Second Quarter
The second quarter was a low scoring affair as Jordan Harrison opened the quarter with a three-pointer to give WVU a three point advantage and their first lead of the night. The Mountaineers would not score another point for the next seven minutes. North Carolina also struggled in the second quarter by not scoring for the first three minutes.
However, the Tar Heels would respond with three quick baskets to retake the lead 19-16. North Carolina would keep up the pressure with a three-pointer from Lanie Grant and a lay up from Alyssa Ustby to give the Tar Heels a six-point advantage (24-18) with under two minutes remaining in the first half.
The West Virginia offense struggled and had missed 9 of their last 10 shots, but Shaw was successful in drawing a foul and made three free throws with nine seconds remaining to go into halftime only trailing the Tar Heels by 3 (24-21).
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Third Quarter
In the second half West Virginia ran into foul trouble (as they did last year vs Iowa) as Quinerly picked up her second foul on a dead ball and her third foul immediately after on the inbound and was taken out of the game. UNC led 32-25 when Quinerly exited the game, but West Virginia was able to put up points despite not having their star player in the game, as they outscored North Carolina 10-1 over the next three minutes to lead the Heels by two (35-33).
North Carolina would respond by scoring the next nine points to retake the lead by seven points. West Virginia looked to cut into the lead in the final seconds of the third, but a blocked shot turned into a buzzer-beating lay up for North Carolina as the Tar Heels entered the fourth quarter with a 45-38 lead.
Fourth Quarter
North Carolina scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to jump out to a 49-38 lead as Kylee Blacksten fouled out for West Virginia (Thomas would also foul out later in the quarter). The Mountaineers struggled tremendously in the fourth quarter by not scoring a point until under 40 seconds remaining in the game. West Virginia was defeated by a final score of 58-47.
JJ Quinerly scored eight points in her final game as a Mountaineer, Kyah Watson finished the night with nine points and 15 rebounds. Shaw finished the game with eight points and Harrison with 10 points.
Coach Kellogg On His Team’s Performance This Season
Really I’m just so proud of our group. I’m proud of the seniors. I think we always talk about leaving a legacy, leave things better than what you found or what it was when you started at whatever place that is, and I think these guys did that.
Coach Kellogg On West Virginia’s Seniors
They’ve meant a lot obviously. All of their journeys have been really different. We talked about JJ’s journey. Kyah’s journey was different than Kylee’s journey. There’s other seniors that didn’t get in the game tonight that were part of this basketball game that had a different journey. Tirzah had a different journey.
All different stories. Really close group. That’s what I’ve enjoyed about my two years here so far. They’re an easy team to coach. They’re just really good kids. They do the right things. They work hard.
JJ Quinerly On Her Legace As A Mountaineer
I hope to be remembered as probably one of the best guards to play at West Virginia University. I think I did a lot under a lot of different coaches.
Honestly, like he said, I think I left a legacy here, and I left the program better than it was when I first came in.
