WVU Women's Hoops Rises to the Top 15 in Final Regular Season AP Poll

The West Virginia women’s basketball team came in at No. 15 in the most recent AP Poll. The Mountaineers reached their highest ranking of the season in the final rankings of the regular season.

Fittingly, Mark Kellogg and his Mountaineers finished off their regular season with perhaps their most impressive showing yet with a 118-60 win over the Cincinnati Bearcats on Sunday afternoon at Hope Coliseum.

The 58-point margin of victory was the highest mark of the season for Kellogg’s squad. The 118-point mark was also the second-most points scored in a single game in WVU women’s basketball history.

Up two spots 👀 pic.twitter.com/Ntz8d6hitu
— WVU Women's Basketball (@WVUWBB) March 2, 2026

The No. 15 ranking is also significant because the top 16 overall seeds in the women’s NCAA Tournament are granted the right to host the first two rounds of the tournament on their home floor. However, in the latest ESPN bracketology, the Mountaineers are currently on the outside looking in on hosting games on their home floor. While the current projections do not include the Mountaineers hosting, plenty will change over the next week with conference championships, leaving plenty of room for the Mountaineers to move up into the hosting position.

WVU Women’s Basketball Could be on the Cusp of an All-Time Great Season

Regardless of the outcome of the Big 12 Championship, Kellogg will earn his third NCAA Tournament berth in as many seasons with the Mountaineers. Hosting is certainly well within the realm of possibilities, which would mark the first time that NCAA Tournament basketball has been played in Morgantown. It would be huge for the program, an opportunity to showcase their team and campus on a national stage.

This could also be viewed as the most complete team in the Kellogg era. Gia Cooke leads the team in points with 14.9 per contest, who has stepped up and filled the void in scoring left by JJ Quinerly, who was drafted by the Dallas Wings of the WNBA. Meme Wheeler and Carter McCray both average over five rebounds a game, giving the Mountaineers consistent rebounding options that they simply have not had during the Kellogg era thus far.

The Mountaineers' offensive clinic on Sunday was the exclamation on an unbelievable 24-6 overall regular season that they needed. With a number two seed and double bye in the Big 12 Tournament, the Mountaineers have all of the tools to make a postseason run in year three of Mark Kellogg.

The Mountaineers' next game, against either the Arizona Wildcats, Arizona State Sun Devils, or the Iowa State Cyclones in the Big 12 Conference Tournament, will be broadcast on ESPN+ with a tipoff scheduled for 6:30 p.m.