No. 16 West Virginia Stumbles in Tucson

Tucson, AZ – No. 16 West Virginia shot a mere 1-12 from three-point range in the game while the Wildcats (14-8, 5-4) hit 7-19 from behind the arc to pull off the upset over the Mountaineers (16-4, 6-3) Saturday night 77-62.

West Virginia senior guard JJ Quinerly led all scorers with 26 points while junior guard Sydney Shaw scored 10.

Arizona opened the game on a 9-2 run with sophomore forward Breya Cunningham leading the way with four points and junior guard Paulina Paris buried her first of two first half three-pointers for the seven-point advantage.

JJ Quinerly and Sydney Shaw ignited a 9-2 run to tie the game at 11, but freshman guard Mailien Rolf ended it with a three to put Arizona back on top 14-11 with 2:27 left in the first quarter.

Arizona took a two-point lead into the second quarter, propelled by three West Virginia turnovers and Skylar Jones scored nine of her 10 second quarter points in the first three minutes as the Wildcats stretched their lead to 10 at the 5:53 mark of the quarter.

Arizona used a 13-2 run to extend the lead to 18 with 1:59 remaining in the half before taking a 46-30 advantage into halftime. Paris led all scorers with 13 points while Jones put in 11 points.

West Virginia held Arizona to 3-11 shooting from the floor and forced turnovers to hold the Wildcats to seven points. Meanwhile, JJ Quinerly was 4-5 from the field, scoring 10 of the Mountaineers’ 14 third quarter points to get within nine through three quarters of play.

Sydney Shaw cut it to seven at the beginning of the fourth quarter after the steal and the lay-in.

West Virginia freshman forward Jordan Thomas grabbed the rebound and was fouled, but after further review, in addition to the foul, Thomas was called for an intentional foul, and the ball remained with the Wildcats after Jada Williams hit a pair of free throws.

The sequence sparked a 13-0 run for a 68-48 lead with 4:34 remaining in the game and the Wildcats coasted to a 77-62 victory.