No. 18 West Virginia Handles BYU

The Mountaineers lean on their defense on a tough night shooting from the field

West Virginia University guard JJ Quinerly / Christopher Hall - West Virginia on SI

Morgantown, WV – No. 18 West Virginia forced 31 turnovers and senior guard JJ Quinerly led all scorers with 19 points as the Mountaineers (12-2, 2-1) moved past the BYU Cougars (9-5, 0-3) Saturday evening 66-53.

BYU grabbed an early 4-1 lead with a pair of drives to the basket, but the Mountaineers answered with a 9-2 run behind three threes to take a 10-6 lead near the midway point of the first quarter.

West Virginia was held without a field goal for nearly five minutes, opening the door for the Cougars to go on a 12-1 run, ignited with three from senior guard Lauren Davenport and redshirt senior guard Kemery Congdon to reclaim the lead, 18-11.

BYU took a 20-13 lead into the second quarter, but junior guard Sydney Shaw scored seven consecutive points as part of a 9-2 Mountaineer rum t tie the game at 22 with 6:11 remaining in the first half.

Kemery Congdon responded with a three and Emma Calvert followed with a contested layup to put the Cougars back on top by five and kept the margin until senior guard JJ Quinerly buried a three as time expired to cut the deficit to two, 30-28, heading into halftime.

Congdon opened the second half with a jumper to push the Cougars lead back up to four, but the Mountaineers constructed a 12-2 run, started with threes from senior forward Kylee Blacksten and senior guard Kyah Watson before Quinerly drive to the paint for three straight consted buckets around the rim to give WVU a 40-34 lead at the six-minute mark of the third quarter.

West Virginia held a seven-point lead through three quarters and began the fourth quarter with a 10-2 run with freshman forward Célia Rivière capping it off with a pair of tough buckets in the paint for a 59-44 advantage.

BYU answered with a 7-0 run to cut the Mountaineer lead to eight with 3:19 remaining in the game but WVU defense held the Cougars to 1-4 shooting from the field and forced two turnovers in the final three minutes as the Mountaineers pulled away with the 66-53 victory.