Championship Bound! WVU Wins Thriller Over Buffs, Advances to Big 12 Title Game

The West Virginia women’s basketball team defeated the Colorado Buffaloes 48-47 on Saturday to advance to the Big 12 Tournament Championship game. The Mountaineers are just one win away from their second Big 12 women’s basketball tournament championship in program history, and first since 2017.

Here are some instant takeaways from one of the biggest wins for WVU women’s basketball in the Mark Kellogg era.

WVU IS CHAMPIONSHIP BOUND‼️#Big12WBB | @Phillips66Gas pic.twitter.com/FyXEXkVFo1
— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) March 8, 2026

Jordan Harrison closes the game for WVU on defense

How fitting is it for Jordan Harrison to close the game for WVU with a steal? Colorado had a chance to win the game outright, inbounding the ball with 2.2 seconds on the clock. Once again, the Mountaineers' defense proved that they are built for clutch moments. The Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year poked the ball away before the Buffaloes were able to get a shot off as time expired to send the Mountaineers to the championship game. It was the senior guard's fourth steal of the night.

The Mountaineers can and will win ugly

To be perfectly honest, it was an ugly, offensive game all around. The Mountaineers shot just 30.5% from the field and were just 3/13 from beyond the arc. However, Colorado was just as poor at shooting the ball. The Buffaloes shot at a slightly better percentage than WVU at 36% from the field, but knocked down just two three-pointers all night.

WVU had just 10 points off turnovers in this contest, compared to the whopping 35 they put up in their quarterfinals matchup against Arizona State. This game came down to the final moments, and the Mountaineers once again showed they are an incredibly well-coached team that can win by any means necessary.

West Virginia relied on their stars, who delivered again

Of the Mountaineers' 48 points they scored tonight, 41 of them came from three players. Jordan Harrison had the game-winning steal and led the team in scoring with 15 points. Gia Cooke had 14, and Meme Wheeler had 12 of her own. WVU has been able to rely on these three all season long and showed up again in a game in which points were hard to come by.

WVU will have a chance to clinch its first conference tournament championship since 2017, but also potentially move into a top-four seed and host NCAA tournament games. The Mountaineers will play against the TCU Horned Frogs in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Big 12 Women’s basketball championship game on Sunday, March 8th at 4 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.