Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Highlighted by fifth-year senior guard Madisen Smith's 1,000-point milestone, the West Virginia University women's basketball team defeated Robert Morris, 72-42, on Thursday evening, inside the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown.
 
With her bucket at the 5:37 mark of the third quarter, Smith tallied her 1,000th career point, becoming the 39th player in program history to accomplish the feat. The Greenville, South Carolina, native is the third Mountaineer in the last three seasons to reach the career milestone at WVU, joining Kari Niblack (2019-22) and Kysre Gondrezick (2018-21). Smith finished with nine points in the game.
 
Redshirt sophomore guard Kyah Watson tallied a season-high 16 points in the game to lead all scorers. Senior guard Jayla Hemingway notched 14 points in the contest and led WVU in rebounding, with a career-high 11 boards, to record the first double-double of her career.
 
Sophomore guard JJ Quinerly also got into double digits with 11 points, to go along with a career-high seven rebounds and three steals. Fifth-year senior guard Danni Nichols posted a career-high seven assists in the victory.
 
West Virginia (7-1) led by as many as 30 points in a game where it led from start to finish. The Mountaineer defense came up big again, as it forced 19 turnovers and tallied 12 steals. WVU netted 30 points off RMU's 19 turnovers.
 
Additionally, West Virginia limited Robert Morris (6-3) to 15-of-54 (27.8%) from the field, including 4-of-22 (18.2%) from 3-point range. The Mountaineers have now held five of eight opponents to 50 points or less this season, including its last two foes.
 
Following two quick scores by WVU, Robert Morris countered with a 3-pointer. The Mountaineers then proceeded to rattle off a 10-0 run to take a 14-3 lead over the Colonials at the media timeout. West Virginia went on to outscore Robert Morris, 7-2, for the remainder of the quarter to extend its advantage to 21-5 at the end of the period.
 
After WVU struck first to make it an 18-point game, RMU countered with a 9-0 to close the gap and cut its deficit to nine points. Four more Mountaineer tallies made it a 27-14 game at the second-quarter media break. The Colonials kept it close for the remainder of the second period, as West Virginia saw its lead drop to 11 over the final three minutes of the first half.
 
West Virginia led Robert Morris, 32-21, at the midway point of the game.
 
After the Colonials cut the Mountaineers' lead to nine points to open the second half, WVU jumped back out to a double-digit lead with four tallies. Following an RMU score at the 3:51 mark of the third quarter, West Virginia closed out the frame on 14-0 run to create a 25-point separation.
 
The Mountaineers took a 54-29 lead over the Colonials into the fourth quarter.
 
Despite Robert Morris' attempts to cut into the lead, West Virginia remained in the lead by 20-plus points to open the fourth quarter. With the game out of reach for the Colonials, the Mountaineers went on to stretch their lead to 30 points, their largest of the game, with 3:03 remaining.
 
RMU would take on four more points from there, but WVU would match that total to secure the 30-point victory.
 
Next up, West Virginia begins a three-game road trip, as it travels to State College, Pennsylvania, to take on Penn State on Sunday, Dec. 8. Tipoff from inside the Bryce Jordan Center in State College is set for 4 p.m. ET. Sunday's contest against the Nittany Lions will be broadcast on B1G+.