West Virginia women’s basketball used a dominant third quarter to help propel them into the second round of the NCAA Tournament, with a 63-53 win over the Tigers.
After the game, West Virginia head coach Mark Kellogg spoke on his team’s performance as well as what is next as his team prepares for No. 1 Iowa.
“Proud of our group. Proud of the effort, especially on the defensive end,” Kellogg said.
Kellogg talked about adjustments he needed to make to the press. He said it was a coaching battle to see what the other was showing and then how to counter. WVU countered in a big way in the third quarter forcing 12 turnovers as the Mountaineers went on a 13-0 run to build their lead.
“Really it was settling in to see what their press breaker was going to be. Was it something we had seen on film. They had a week to prepare something different if they wanted to. It looked like they had a couple different press breakers prepared for us depending on what press we ran,” Kellogg said.
JJ Quinerly scored 29 points for WVU and was a big factor on both offense and defense for the Mountaineers.
“Obviously she has a motor. She’s a high-level, conditioned athlete, which you have to be. She’s an elite scorer,” Kellogg said.
He was asked about her playing all 40 minutes on Saturday but said it’s something she is used to as she is the heartbeat of the Mountaineers.
“She’s done it before. She played 40 in the last game, too, in the Big 12 tournament,” Kellogg said. She’s conditioned enough to do that and she’s a phenomenal scorer. All eyes go to her when she’s on the floor which makes everybody around her better, too.”
Now WVU’s attention turns to No. 1 Iowa. Kellogg and the Mountaineers are on a quick turnaround and face the Hawkeyes on Monday night.
Kellogg was asked about how Iowa compares to a team like Oklahoma who is guard heavy and who the Mountaineers beat earlier this season.
“The way they run their offense is probably a little bit different (than Oklahoma), and obviously Caitlin is special, but they are really talented around her,” Kellogg said. “But there are some similarities in how good they are in transition and how free they play on the offensive end. I thought OU does the same thing. They just play with this freedom on the offensive end, and so yeah, it will probably be a similar conversations or a game plan that we can use again.”
