West Virginia Battles No.1 Seed Iowa but Falls Short Late

The Mountaineers erased a 12-point second half deficit but come up short in the final minutes

Iowa City, IA – The West Virginia Mountaineers tied the game at 52 with under three minutes remaining but went scoreless in the final minutes as Iowa finished the game 10-11 from the free throw line to advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

West Virginia guard Kya Watson gave the Mountaineers the early 5-0 lead. The redshirt junior buried a three to open the game and got the lay-in following the turnover.

Iowa responded with a 5-0 spurt to tie the game with Hawkeyes guard Caitlin Clark capping it off with a three from the top of the key.

Consecutive threes from forward Kylee Blacksten and guard JJ Quinerly put the Mountaineers up six but an Iowa 11-2 run behind three threes, two coming from Clark for an 16-13 Hawkeyes lead.

West Virginia went 0-5 from the field to finish out the first quarter, but the Mountaineer defense started to throw the Iowa offense off balance and were down only five at the end of the quarter, 20-15.

The first bucket of the second quarter came just under the eight-minute mark with Sydney Affolter receiving the open layup. However, Iowa was held to 3-11 shooting from the field, including 0-5 from three-point range.

Caitlin Clark scored the Hawkeyes last bucket of the second quarter with 4:49 left in the half as West Virginia was able to get a three from guard Jayla Hemmingway and a layup from Watson off the fake and the drive from the perimeter to cut the deficit to two, 26-24, at the half.

Iowa started the second half on a 12-2 run, with Clark scoring eight of her game-high 32 points, forcing WVU head coach Mark Kellog to take a timeout.

West Virginia responded with a 12-2 run, with JJ Quinerly sparking the Mountaineers with a three, buried another and Watson capped it off with a three as West Virgina got back within two, 40-38, with just over two minutes remaining.

Iowa finished the third quarter on an 8-0 run with half of the production coming from the free throw line for the 48-38 lead.

West Virginia started the fourth quarter with a 10-0 run with threes from Quinerly and Watson as the Mountaineers held Iowa 0-5 from the field to tie the game at 48, prompting Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder to take a timeout at the midway point of the quarter.

With the game tied at 52, with 2:55 remaining in the game, Affolter drove the lane for the layup, recording Iowa’s only field goal of the quarter, and received the foul to go up three.

The Mountaineers finished 0-4 from the field in the final minutes. Quinerly fouled out of the game with 1:04 left to play with West Virginia down three. She led the Mountaineers in scoring with 15 points. However, the Hawkeyes finished the game from the free throw line, going 10-11 to hold off the Mountaineers for a 64-54 victory.