Quinerly Leads Mountaineers in Dominating Win Over Utah

Morgantown, WV – West Virginia senior guard JJ Quinerly put up a career-high and tied former WVU great Meg Bulger for a program-best 38 points in her final game inside the WVU Coliseum as the No. 18 Mountaineers (22-6, 12-5) sent the seniors out with a win over the Utah Utes (21-7, 12-5) in the home finale 75-46.

West Virginia opened the game on an 10-2 run. Senior Kylee Blacksten started the scoring with a tough move to the basket, senior Kyah Watson buried a three, and freshman forward Jordan Thomas won the challenge at the rim for an eight-point advantage with four minutes remaining in the quarter.

The Mountaineers hit just one field goal in the final four minutes of the quarter, with senior guard Sydney Woodley dropping in a corner three to extend the lead to nine, but the Mountaineer defense held the Utes to just to one free throw during that span to take a 13-5 lead into the second quarter.

Jordan Thomas got the steal and it led to a transition layup for Quinerly to push the lead to 10.

Utah responded with a 6-0 run with threes from junior guard Matyson Wilke and senior guard Kennady McQueen to pull the Utes within four at the 7:22 mark.

Guard JJ Quinerly and junior Sydney Shaw answered right back with threes of their own before a 7-0 run extended the Mountaineer lead to 15 with 1:26 left in the half, but senior guard Ines Vieria hit a three from the right wing as the Mountaineers took a 30-18 lead into halftime.

After Quinerly scored 12 points in the second quarter, she went for 15 points in the third and led the Mountaineers to a 17-point lead near the midway point of the quarter.

Utah cut the lead down to 11, but it was Quinerly stopping the Utes momentum, along with Shaw hitting a jumper, before Quinerly got the steal and the layup to push the lead 15 through three quarters of play.

Quinerly scored seven of the West Virginia’s first nine points of the four quarter to extend the lead to 22 as the Mountaineers continued to pour it on throughout the final minutes of the game, building its largest lead of 29 in the final 30 seconds for the 75-46 victory.