The No. 19 West Virginia Mountaineers did not let last weekend's devastating loss to No. 12 TCU linger for long.
WVU women's basketball had an extended five-day stretch with no games before returning to the Hope Coliseum to host Oklahoma State, in what was the team's last opportunity to secure a Quad 2 (or higher) win in the regular season. And the Mountaineers did not disappoint.
WVU blew the Cowgirls out of the water in dominant fashion from whistle-to-whistle. They held Oklahoma State, which entered as the top offense in the Big 12 while averaging 83.4 points per game, to just a 40-point output and 19% shooting percentage, completely shutting down one of the more dangerous offenses in college basketball.
Offensively, the Mountaineers drained 12 three-point shots and shot 43% from the field overall while tallying 21 assists on 29 made shots, helping pave the way to a 72-40 victory. WVU was led by a 21-point performance from Gia Cooke that saw her convert five three-pointers, and an 18-point, 10-rebound double-double from Kierra Wheeler.
"Ball movement, and trust," head coach Mark Kellogg said on why his team was so dominant. "I thought we followed the game play pretty well, and we thought we had a pretty good idea on how we wanted to make an impact...That was about as close to a full 40 minutes that we've played. I'm proud of that effort, and told hold this team to 40 points, that's pretty special."
The win helps keep the Mountaineers alive mathematically in the Big 12 title hunt, but also keeps them solidly in the top four of the league – with two games remaining, the Mountaineers hold a one-game lead and head-to-head tiebreaker with fifth-place Colorado and a two-game lead and tiebreaker over the Cowgirls.
This is important, as the top four seeds in the conference tournament will earn double-byes to the quarterfinal round. The win also marks WVU's seventh Quad 2 victory this season, moving them to 7-3 in such games and making them one of just 13 teams to hit double-digit wins against Quad 1 and Quad 2 opponents this year. The Cowgirls are also two spots away from becoming a Quad 1 win in the NET rankings.
That latter stat should help add an extra boost to the team's NCAA Tournament resume as they look to secure a No. 4 seed or higher and earn the chance to host during the opening weekend of the tournament.