As the month of December comes to a close and Big 12 action is set to get fully underway, a pair of West Virginia women's basketball players sit at the top of the Big 12 in steals.
The Mountaineers are 10-2 on the season and sit No. 18 in the latest AP Poll, and their success has been helped along by their ability to create turnovers and cause chaos on the defensive end of the court. That has resulted in senior Kyah Watson and senior J.J. Quinerly sitting at the top of the league in the stat column that tracks steals.
Watson is first overall in both total steals and steals per game, with 38 total and 3.17 per game respectively. Meanwhile, Quinerly is second in the league in steals per game (2.64) and third in total steals with 29.
Quinerly finished first overall last season in the Big 12 in both statistical categories (97 steals, 2.9 per game) while Watson finished the season third in both categories (78 steals, 2.4 per game) -- Watson is now on track to eclipse Quinerly's number from last season given the Mountaineers can play an equal number of games in the post-season. Quinerly's 97 steals in 2023-2024 ranks fifth-best in program history.
The Mountaineer that finished last season second on the team and in the league in steals with 96 total, junior Jordan Harrison, is fourth on the team and tied for 11th in the Big 12 this season with 24 total steals in 12 appearances, and is tied for ninth in steals per game with 2 per contest -- junior Sydney Shaw is tied for Harrison in total steals this season but has done so with one less appearance, putting her at sixth in the league in steals per game with 2.18 per contest.