No. 20 West Virginia Delivers Payback and Dominates Colorado

The Mountaineers get back in the win column with a beatdown of the Buffaloes
West Virginia University guard Sydney Shaw
West Virginia University guard Sydney Shaw / Christopher Hall - West Virginia on SI

Morgantown, WV – West Virginia guards JJ Quinerly and Sydney Shaw scored game-highs of 19 points apiece while the 20th-ranked Mountaineers (14-3, 4-2) forced 30 turnovers to avenge the Big 12 Conference opening loss in December with an emphatic 73-46 win over the Colorado Buffaloes (12-5, 3-3) Wednesday night.

JJ Quinerly drove the lane to open the game and hit a jumper to give West Virginia the early 4-2 edge, but Colorado attacked the WVU pressure and went on a 6-0 spurt for an 8-4 lead at the 6:25 mark of the first quarter.

Jordan Harrison answered with a three and Quinerly got the bucket and the foul and a layup for senior guard Kyah Watson off the assist of Kylee Blacksten as part of an 8-0 run to give West Virginia a 12-8 advantage midway through the first quarter.

Colorado held WVU scoreless for four minutes to go on a 14-0 run, with seven points coming from senior forward Nyamer Diew as the Buffaloes took a 22-15 lead into the second quarter.

West Virginia held Colorado to one field goal in the second quarter, but struggled from the field to start, shooting 1-11 before hitting four of the final five attempts to end the quarter on an 11-0 run and reclaim the lead 31-24 at the half.

Colorado senior guard Frida Forman hit consecutive threes to cap off an 8-0 run and give the Buffalos a one-point advantage 32-31.

West Virginia senior guard Kyah Watson buried a three to end the Buffaloes’ run and the Mountaineers forced four turnovers to produce a 15-0 run, finished with a three from senior guard Sydney Shaw to give WVU a 46-32 lead.

The Mountaineers were leading by 15 but the Buffaloes scored six-straight to end the third quarter to cut the WVU lead to nine, 49-40.

West Virginia held Colorado scoreless for over five minutes to break the game open with a 14-0 run and a 63-40 lead as the Mountaineers coasted to the 73-46 victory.


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Christopher Hall
CHRISTOPHER HALL

Member of the Football Writers Association of America, U.S. Basketball Writers Association and National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.