West Virginia women’s basketball led by as many as 19, but they were outscored 16-2 over the final 5:51 of the game, as the Mountaineers dropped their second-straight game, 74-64 on Wednesday.
Days after WVU experienced their first loss of the season, they looked to put that in the rearview mirror. The Mountaineers were on their way to doing just that early, led by a strong shooting performance in the first half.
West Virginia started off hot from beyond the arc in the first quarter, after they went 4 for 31 from there against Texas on Saturday. WVU made seven three-pointers in the first quarter, as they scored all 21 points of theirs from deep, holding a 21-19 lead.
Jordan Harrison hit on two of those three’s, but in the second quarter, Harrison, and the Mountaineers, cooled off from long range. Harrison missed both of her attempts, while WVU went 4 for 12 in the second quarter from deep. West Virginia’s defense was on display despite the drop off in shooting, forcing 10 turnovers in the first half, leading to 16 points.
WVU outscored Iowa State by 11 in the second quarter, taking a 44-31 lead into halftime.
In the second half, what was working in the first half for the Mountaineers — strong shooting and turnovers into offense — stopped.
WVU forced 10 turnovers in the second half, but only converted them into nine points.
In the third quarter, Iowa State started the quarter on a 5-0 run. The Mountaineers’ lead was cut to eight, but WVU stormed back.
West Virginia went on an 11-0 run over a 2:30 span, making both of their three-pointers in the quarter on the run. One was made by Kylee Blacksten as she ended up with a season-high 16 points. Outside of those two three-pointers, WVU failed to convert much offensively. All 11 points they scored in the quarter came during that run, and despite increasing their lead to as many as 19 in the quarter, that didn’t matter for Iowa State.
The Cyclones closed the third quarter on an 11-0 run for themselves, as WVU’s 19-point lead with 6:04 to play in the third quarter, sat at 55-47 at the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, West Virginia’s offense went completely cold, while Iowa State seemingly couldn’t miss.
West Virginia was outscored 27-9 in the fourth quarter, and they had one basket made over the final 7:14 of regulation. Iowa State’s recipe late was to get the ball inside to Audi Crooks, who held a significant size advantage over Blacksten. Crooks scored 22 points on the night, with 11 rebounds as well. Seven of those points came in the fourth quarter.
The Mountaineers continued to search offensively, but they couldn’t find what they were looking for. WVU went 4 for 18 from the field and 1 for 10 from three in the fourth quarter, with JJ Quinerly and Harrison going a combined 2 for 12, with five points. Harrison finished with a team-high 17 points and after WVU started 9 for 19 from three, they finished 12 for 43 — missing 21 of their final 24 attempts from beyond the arc.
In the end, over the final 14:49 of the game, Iowa State outscored West Virginia, 38-9.
