No. 21 West Virginia Clashes Against No. 24 Oklahoma State on Saturday

The Mountaineers begin the back half of the Big 12 Conference schedule with a top 25 matchup against the Cowgirls

West Virginia University women's basketball vs. Bowling Green / Christopher Hall - West Virginia on SI

Morgantown, WV - No. 21 West Virginia is seeking revenge against No. 24 Oklahoma State on Saturday.

Oklahoma State handed West Virginia its second loss of the season three weeks ago in Stillwater (OK). The Mountaineers led majority of the first half, leading by as many as nine and took a five-point advantage into halftime, 38-33.

The Cowgirls came out of the break and captured momentum in the second half with a 7-0 run to open the third quarter to take the lead and hold the Mountaineers at bay for the 64-57 victory.  

“We did not play very well. I think we scored 24 of those 57 in the first quarter, and just couldn't figure out was to score as the game went on. So, we’ll have to go back to the drawing board a little bit and see if we can make some shots,” West Virginia head coach Mark Kellogg said. “I felt like we had some good shots in that game, and we just didn’t shoot it very well.”

Sophomore guard Stailee Heard led the way with a game-high 18 points and seven rebounds, hitting her season average of a team-best 17.0 ppg and 8.1 rpg.

Really athletic, tough, physical, strong. I think she’s kind of the heartbeat, the toughness of their group. Really plays the four but is probably like a wing they play at the four most of the time. We didn’t do as good of a job as we probably should have or need to do just because I think they feed off of what she does.”

Oklahoma State is riding a four-game winning streak, including a win a win over No. 9 TCU.

“I think they’re elite at times offensively with their ability to put essentially four guards around some post players that have played really well,” Kellogg said. “They got a big win over TCU last week which was a huge win for them and their program. So, I think they’re believing, they’re playing with confidence, they’re play with a swagger, but they’re tough, they’re physical, they guard, and they get out and score.”

West Virginia split a two-game road trip last Arizona, notching a win over Arizona State before dropping game two against Arizona.

“Obviously, a mixed bag last week and one was a really good performance at Arizona State and fairly complete and had it kind of going on the offensive end, played fairly well on the defensive end, and then, went down to Tucson and just did not play particularly well to be honest at all,” Kellogg said.

“I think it was one of our worst defensive performances of the year with some of our metrics we have, and offensively, it wasn’t much better,” Kellogg said. “To their credit, they did to us what I feel like we do to a lot of teams and just took us out of our structure and rhythm.”

JJ Quinerly leads a trio of Mountaineers guards averaging double figures. The senior is posting an average of 19.4 ppg and Big 12 Conference leading 3.2 steals per game.

Junior guard Jordan Harrison is dishing a team-high 5.1 assists per game and is second on the team in scoring at 13.7 ppg behind a team-best 37.1% from three-point range, while junior guard Sydney Shaw is averaging 12.4 ppg, raking third on team.

West Virginia leads the series against Oklahoma State 15-14.

The Mountaineers tip-off against the Cowgirls at noon EST and the action will broadcast on ESPNU.