Box Score KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The No. 7-seed West Virginia University women's basketball concluded its time at the 2022 Phillips 66 Big 12 Women's Basketball Championship, after suffering a 66-60 loss to No. 2-seed Iowa State in the quarterfinals on Friday evening, inside Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City.
 
The Mountaineers (15-15, 7-11 Big 12) were led by junior forward Esmery Martinez, who tallied a game-high 18 points and a team-high 11 rebounds to net her 10th double-double of the season. Martinez now has 25 double-doubles in her career and is in sole possession for No. 5 in all-time program history.
 
Martinez was joined in double figures by freshman guard JJ Quinerly (15 points) and sophomore guard Savannah Samuel (10 points). Additionally, fifth-year senior forward Ari Gray hauled in 10 rebounds in the contest to go along with nine points.
 
West Virginia and Iowa State played even to begin the game and were tied at 10-10 through the first three minutes of the game. A 3-pointer from Martinez put the Mountaineers ahead, 13-10, but the Cyclones netted five points of their own to take a 15-13 lead. Following another score from Martinez, ISU countered with another bucket to hold an 18-15 lead at the first media break.
 
WVU got two more scores to go following the timeout, but Iowa State hit another 3-pointer, which put the Mountaineers behind, 21-19, heading into the second quarter.
 
West Virginia continued to keep the game within two points to start the second, as the Mountaineers netted five points. Iowa State then sank a pair of buckets, including its seventh 3 of the game, to hold a 31-24 lead at the second media timeout.
 
The Mountaineers fell behind by 14 after the break, after the Cyclones stretched its scoring stretch to 12-0, forcing a WVU timeout.
 
Quinerly and Samuel each tacked on a score to cut ISU's lead to 10 after the timeout, but a 3-pointer by the Cyclones made it a 41-28 game at halftime.
 
After an 8-0 run put Iowa State up by 21 to begin the second half, West Virginia tacked six points of its own, including four from Martinez, to make it a 49-34 game at the midway point of the third quarter.
 
Following the break, West Virginia stretched its scoring run to 16-2 to cut Iowa State's lead to seven points. Samuel and Gray both converted three-point plays for WVU, as the Mountaineers went into the fourth quarter trailing, 51-44.
 
After Iowa State opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer, West Virginia tacked on six points of its own, including a pair from Gray, to cut the deficit to six points. WVU called a timeout with 5:49 left in the game, when it trailed by a score of 56-50.
 
Following the final media break, Iowa State converted a pair of free throws to go up 58-50 with 4:42 to play. From there, WVU outscored ISU, 5-4, to cut the game to 62-55 at 2:49.
 
Neither team scored for the next two minutes, before the Mountaineers added a bucket from Gray to make it a 62-57 game with 22 seconds to play. Iowa State then tacked on a pair of free throws, but a 3-pointer from Martinez with 17 seconds to go in the game trimmed the Cyclone's lead to four points.
 
Unfortunately, that was as close as the Mountaineers would get. ISU held WVU scoreless in the final seconds of the game and sank two more free throws to survive and advance to the semifinals.
 
Next up, West Virginia awaits its postseason fate on Sunday, March 13, during the 2022 NCAA Women's Basketball Selection Show. The show will be broadcast on ESPN, beginning at 8 p.m. ET.