WVU Ladies Start Most Tough Stretch of Common Season on Saturday – West Virginia College Athletics

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia begins probably the most tough portion of its regular-season schedule on Saturday in opposition to 24^th-ranked Oklahoma State.
 
The Cowgirls defeated the 21^st-ranked Mountaineers 64-57 in Stillwater again on Jan. 11, certainly one of solely 4 losses for the ladies to date this 12 months.
 
The others had been in opposition to fifth-ranked Texas within the Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Florida, at Colorado on Dec. 20 to tip off Massive 12 play, and most just lately, final Saturday night time at Arizona on the second leg of West Virginia’s two-game tour of the Grand Canyon State.
 
In that recreation, the Wildcats gave West Virginia slightly dose of its personal drugs by forcing 21 turnovers and limiting the Mountaineers to simply certainly one of 12 from past the 3-point arc. Senior guard JJ Quinerly wanted 25 pictures to attain 26 factors, and the one different participant to achieve double figures was guard Sydney Shaw with 10.
 
“The frustration is available in after I do not assume they’re assembly the extent the place I believe they’ll get to,” West Virginia coach Mark Kellogg mentioned earlier in the present day throughout his weekly go to with the media. “The tough half with Arizona is we thought we had rectified a few of these woes from the Colorado and Oklahoma State losses, and perhaps we did not as a lot as we thought we had perhaps discovered a few these issues on the street.”
 
Kellogg attributes a few of WVU’s latest street woes to easily lacking open pictures, however in opposition to Arizona, he thought the Wildcats pressured his workforce into taking too many unhealthy pictures in its 15-point defeat, the Mountaineers’ worst this season.
 
“We want a 3rd and a fourth scorer,” he defined. “If we are able to get 4 scorers, then we usually have an excellent probability of profitable each recreation. If we get one or two, or if JJ has to take every part on her personal, then we most likely could not succeed as a lot.”
 
Within the loss at Oklahoma State earlier this month, OSU held Quinerly to simply 10 factors on 4 of 16 taking pictures. Kylee Blacksten was the one different WVU participant to achieve double figures with 16.
 
After taking pictures 56.3% and scoring 24 factors within the first quarter, the Mountaineers solely managed 33 factors for the rest of the competition, together with simply seven within the third interval when Oklahoma State took management of the sport.
 
An incapability to carry on to early double-digit leads and end video games sturdy had been components within the league defeats at Colorado and Oklahoma State. West Virginia fought again within the third quarter in opposition to Arizona and was trailing by solely seven with lower than eight minutes left earlier than the Wildcats rallied to place the sport away.
 
West Virginia is 11-0 general at dwelling and 4-0 in Massive 12 play, whereas splitting its 4 convention street video games to date.
 
The WVU Coliseum has definitely been variety to the Mountaineers, and Kellogg is anticipating a giant turnout on Saturday afternoon in opposition to the Cowgirls, 27^th in the latest NCAA NET rankings. 
 
The Oklahoma State contest begins a nine-game stretch that features No. 24 Baylor in Waco on Feb. 11, in opposition to No. 7 Kansas State on the Coliseum on Feb. 17, in opposition to No. 10 TCU in Fort Price on Feb. 23, and in opposition to No. 26 Utah on the Coliseum on Feb. 26.
 
In between is a street recreation at No. 175 Houston and a pair of contests in opposition to No. 69 Cincinnati.
 
These video games are going to find out how and the place West Virginia leads to the postseason past the Massive 12 event. 
 
“We all know what’s coming. It is a gauntlet, whether or not it is again loaded or entrance loaded; it is a brutal league, and that is the best way it really works,” Kellogg defined. “We’re midway by means of, and we’ll flip it. We’re two video games again of first place, and we’re 13 within the NET. The computer systems like us, however we want some high quality wins, and we can have some alternatives.”
 
That begins on Saturday at midday in opposition to a 17-3 Oklahoma State workforce that performs host to Arizona State later tonight. The Cowgirls, 7-2 in Massive 12 play, just lately bought a giant victory over TCU, which places them a recreation behind the 8-1 Horned Frogs and a half-game behind 7-1 Kansas State within the convention standings.
 
Beneath them are 6-2 Baylor, and West Virginia, Utah and Iowa State, every 6-3.
 
What Oklahoma State additionally presents West Virginia is a chance for the Mountaineers to get their first Quad 1 victory of the season.
 
“There are different alternatives for us, however sure, you solely get so many alternatives to play at dwelling in opposition to ranked groups in entrance of your crowd, and also you definitely need to make the most of the chance when it is offered to you,” Kellogg mentioned. “And that is what we are going to hopefully do on Saturday.”