The West Virginia Mountaineers improve their winning streak to three as they defeated Houston 79-51 on the road Saturday.
The game started slow, with only two made field goals in the first five minutes for both teams. The Mountaineers began to find their rhythm behind JJ Quinerly, who had 16 of her 20 points in the first quarter. They took a commanding 25-4 lead at the end of the first.
Houston responded in the second quarter, outscoring the Mountaineers 14-12, but still found themselves down 21 points heading into the half.
WVU came out of the half with the same intensity as the first quarter. Sydney Shaw got it going in the third, she finished with 13 points in the game. The Mountaineers took a commanding 61-31 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
The defense has been the story this year for the Mountaineers, and it showed against Houston today. They held the Cougars to 37.5% shooting and had 14 steals. The full-court press of WVU tired the Cougars’ six-person rotation, causing them to make unforced mistakes.
The Mountaineers had four starters in double-digit scoring. Junior Jordan Harrison had 14 points to go along with 4 assists. The star of the game was JJ Quinerly who continues to make a case for Big 12 Player of the Year. She finished with six assists and four rebounds to go along with her game-high 20 points.
The Mountaineers will remain in Texas until Feb. 11 when they will face the Baylor Bears in Waco. They will need to win to keep their Big 12 regular season title hopes alive.
