West Virginia Drops Heartbreaker in the Big 12 Championship
Kansas City, MO - West Virginia led throughout the second half in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Championship and led by as many as 13 points against Oklahoma State but the Mountaineers (19-14) shot 3-13 in the final period and fell to the Cowgirls (21-10) 62-61 in the final seconds.
Oklahoma State held a 10-7 edge at the midway point of the first quarter behind six points from forward Taylen Collins, but West Virginia guard Madisen Smith answered with a drive to the lane for the bucket and followed with a three to claim the Mountaineers first lead of the game 12-10 with 2:43 left in the first period.
West Virginia guard Danni Nichols popped a three to open the second quarter, then another five-point spurt from Madison Smith propelled the Mountaineers to a nine-point lead, 27-18, at the 4:20 mark.
Smith buried a step-back three for 15 first half points and increased the West Virginia lead to 12 with 2:09 left to play in the first half as the Mountaineers took a 34-24 advantage into halftime.
West Virginia guard Ja'naiya Quinerly opened the second half with consecutive buckets, however, three Mountaineers turnovers opened the door for an 8-0 run to cut the WVU lead to three, 38-35, with 6:52 remaining in the third quarter.
The Mountaineers responded when Madisen Smith drove the lane as the shot clocked was winding down and kicked it to Danni Nichols in the right corner for a three, ending a near four-minute scoring drought and igniting a 7-0 run and putting WVU back up 10 with 3:22 left play in the third.
West Virginia held an 11-point lead heading into the fourth quarter and maintained the advantage with over six minutes to play but the Mountaineers would shoot 1-9 from the field and the Cowgirls came storming back with a 10-run to get within one with 3:13 remaining in the game.
Madisen Smith ended the run with a three but on Oklahoma State ensuing possession, a second chance opportunity three from Lior Garzan got the Cowgirls back to within a point.
West Virginia came up empty on consecutive possessions and Oklahoma State guard Terryn Milton drove to the middle of the paint, tossed up a shot and it hit the back of the from to the front and dropped in with .1 seconds remaining as the Cowgirls storm back for the win and advance to the semifinals of the Big 12 Championship.
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