The No. 13-ranked West Virginia women’s basketball team cruised in a 98-28 victory over Lafayette on Friday.
The Mountaineers jumped out in front early and continued to pile on as the game progressed. Five players had 10 or more points, and the team shot 56% from three.
JJ Quinerly led all scorers with 19 points without playing in the fourth quarter and also had five rebounds, four assists and three steals.
WVU had 21 steals in the contest and 30 turnovers in total. The victory continues their streak of defeating every opponent they’ve played thus far by 20+ points while forcing 20 or more turnovers
West Virginia got off to a hot start. They made their first three three-point attempts and led 16-4 with five minutes left in the first quarter.
They were on an 11-0 run around the midway point of the first quarter and started building a dominating lead. At the end of the first quarter, West Virginia led 22-8.
To begin the third quarter, WVU went on an 11-0 run, not allowing the Leopards to score in over four minutes to begin the second quarter. Lafayette hit their first three of the game with 4:01 left in the first half.
West Virginia ended the first half on a 7-0 run. In the first two quarters, they forced 16 Lafayette turnovers, 11 of them steals.
Quinerly led all scorers with 11 points heading into the locker room. She also had the most rebounds and assists up to that point.
West Virginia picked up right where they left off in the second half. Quinerly hit a three almost immediately and the Mountaineers forced a 10-second violation soon thereafter.
With 5:36 left in the third quarter, Lafayette called timeout as West Virginia was on a 7-0 run and made six field goal attempts in a row. They led by 43 points at that point, 62-19.
That run continued as Lafayette struggled to keep up with the No. 13-ranked team in Division I basketball. West Virginia ended the third quarter on a 23-0 run and led 78-19, outscoring the Leopards 33-4.
WVU began the fourth quarter without any starters, as most of their days seemed done with the big lead. Lafayette scored their first basket in 11:21 with 5:34 left to go, ending a 29-0 West Virginia run.
In the end, WVU stayed consistent on offense and defense, defeating Lafayette 98-28.
West Virginia improves to 6-0 on the season. They’ll be back in action next week when they travel to Florida for the Gulf Coast Showcase.
