Box Score CANCUN, Mexico – The West Virginia University women's basketball team suffered its first loss of the season in a 78-40 defeat to No. 13/11 NC State on Friday afternoon, in the 2022 Cancun Challenge at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya.
 
Sophomore guard JJ Quinerly led WVU's scoring efforts with a team-high 16 points to go along with five rebounds and two steals. Additionally, fifth-year senior guard Madisen Smith tallied 11 points to get into double figures for the fifth consecutive game.
 
Redshirt sophomore guard led West Virginia's rebounding department, with seven boards.
 
After NC State opened the game on an 8-0 run and forced a Mountaineer timeout with 7:42 remaining in the opening quarter, WVU attempted to claw its way back into the game and even cut the Wolfpack's lead to four. The Mountaineers would outscore NCSU, 12-11, following the timeout but would trail, 19-12, heading into the second quarter.
 
The second quarter showed to be all NC State, as the Wolfpack outscored to West Virginia, 24-6, in the period. WVU trailed NCSU by 25 points at the game's midway point.
 
West Virginia took NC State's lead down to 19 points to open the third quarter and outscored the Wolfpack, 14-10, leading into the third media timeout. At that point, WVU trailed NCSU by a score of 53-32.
 
From there, the Wolfpack tacked on four more scores and made it a 61-34 game heading into the final 10 minutes.
 
The Mountaineers tacked on two quick scores to begin the fourth quarter and cut the deficit 61-38. Following that, NC State went on to score eight more times to close out the game and hand West Virginia its first loss of the 2022-23 campaign.
 
Next up, West Virginia returns to Morgantown, on Wednesday, Nov. 30, to play host to NC Central. Tipoff against the Eagles is set for 7 p.m. ET, inside the WVU Coliseum. Wednesday's contest will be broadcast on Big 12 Now and the Mountaineer Sports Network.