Box Score LAWRENCE, Kan. – The West Virginia University women's basketball team fell to Kansas on Tuesday evening, 74-63, inside Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, to conclude its two-game road swing.
West Virginia (11-12, 4-9 Big 12) was led by freshman guard
JJ Quinerly, who tallied a team-high 16 points in the game. She was joined in double figures by junior forward
Esmery Martinez (12 points) and senior guard
Madisen Smith (11 points). Martinez hauled in a team-high eight rebounds to lead WVU on the glass.
KU's (18-5, 9-4 Big 12) scoring attack was led by guard Zakiyah Franklin, who finished with a game-high 25 points.
After Kansas scored to open the game, the Mountaineers responded with a 7-0 run, which included an and-1 from Quinerly. WVU also forced three turnovers in the opening minutes of the contest to stifle KU's offense. The Jayhawks went on a 9-2 run after the first three minutes of the quarter, as West Virginia trailed, 11-9, at the media timeout.
After senior forward
Kari Niblack tied the game at the free-throw line, an and-1 opportunity by Kansas put the Mountaineers behind after the break. The two teams then commenced to trade scores, but a 3-pointer by sophomore guard
Savannah Samuel tied the game up with less than a minute to play in the opening quarter. The Jayhawks would add one more score before the end of the first, when WVU trailed, 18-16
The Mountaineers fell behind, 24-18, over the opening minutes of the second quarter, as Kansas jumped out to a 6-2 run to start. KU attempted to hold its six-point margin, but a pair of scores from Niblack and Smith cut the deficit to 26-22 at the second-quarter media timeout.
West Virginia trailed Kanas, 35-26, with less than two minutes to play in the first half, as the Jayhawks came out of the break on a 9-4 run. A score by fifth-year senior center
Blessing Ejiofor cut WVU's deficit to seven with 1:50 to go in the quarter. The Mountaineers were behind, 35-28, at the half.
WVU found itself behind by 15 to open the second half, as KU jumped out to a 10-2 run to begin the third quarter. After the Jayhawks sank a 3-pointer at the 6:37 mark of the frame, West Virginia was forced to call a timeout down 48-30.
The Mountaineers notched a pair of scores coming out of the break, but KU countered and extended its lead to 20 points with four minutes remaining in the quarter. Despite a few scores from West Virginia, the Jayhawks led by as many as 23 points down the frame's final stretch. WVU got eight points over the final two minutes of the third to cut into the deficit, as the Mountaineers trailed the Jayhawks, 64-47, heading to the fourth quarter.
After a 3-pointer from Kansas, West Virginia opened the fourth with eight points of its own to cut the deficit to 12 points with 8:22 to play. The two teams each traded a score, before four Jayhawk tallies made it 73-57 disadvantage for WVU with 5:09 to play in the game. A 3-pointer by Smith made it a 73-60 ballgame at the final media break.
After Quinerly scored with four minutes remaining to make it an 11-point game, Kansas got one back at the free-throw line and called a timeout with 3:23 to play.
Niblack sank a free throw with 2:40 remaining in the game to cut the deficit to 74-63, but that was the last score either team would get. West Virginia held the Jayhawks scoreless over the final 3:23 of the game, but it wasn't enough to overcome KU's advantage.
Next up, West Virginia gets set to square off against No. 14 Texas on Sunday, Feb. 20, inside the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown. Tipoff against the Longhorns is set for 12 p.m. ET. Sunday's contest is WVU's annual 'Play4Kay' Pink Game, presented by the WVU Cancer Institute, and will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2.
