Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University women's basketball team concluded its 2021-22 regular season with a 74-57 loss to No. 8/7 Iowa State on Saturday evening, inside the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown.
WVU (14-14, 7-11 Big 12) was led by senior guard
Madisen Smith, who tallied a team-high 11 points. She was joined in double-figure scoring by sophomore guard
Savannah Samuel, who finished with a career-best 10 points.
Junior forward
Esmery Martinez hauled in a game-high 11 rebounds to lead West Virginia on the glass. She and fifth-year senior center
Blessing Ejiofor (10 rebounds) accounted for 50% of the Mountaineers' total rebounds in the game.
Iowa State (25-5, 14-4 Big 12) was led by sophomore guard Emily Ryan, who finished with 29 points.
West Virginia went up 7-2 over Iowa State to begin the game, as freshman guard
JJ Quinerly netted four points in the early going.
ISU cut the game to one point following the first media break, as WVU held a 9-8 lead with 2:56 to play in the quarter. The Mountaineers countered with five points of their own, including a 3-pointer from Samuel, to extend its advantage to six points at the 1:37 mark of the frame. The Cyclones would net a pair of free throws before the end of the first to cut West Virginia's lead to 14-10.
The Mountaineers fell behind by a pair to begin the second quarter, as Iowa State rattled off a 6-0 run to begin the frame. After Ejiofor tied the game at 16-16, the Cyclones countered with five unanswered points to force a WVU timeout. West Virginia trailed Iowa State, 21-16, with 6:39 to play in the first half.
After Samuel sank another triple to make it a 21-19 game out of the break, the two teams commenced to trade scores over the next three minutes to keep the game in reach for WVU. Ejiofor scored with 2:14 to play in the quarter to tie the game at 26-26, but Iowa State outscored West Virginia, 8-2, over the final two minutes of the period to put the Mountaineers behind, 34-28, at halftime.
WVU found itself behind by 14 to open the second half, as ISU began the third quarter on a 10-2 run and led 44-30 at the 5:53 mark of the third. A score from Smith halted the Cyclones' scoring flurry and cut the deficit to 44-32 at the media timeout.
The Mountaineers outscored Iowa State, 12-11, following the break but continued to trail for the remainder of the quarter. ISU led by as many as 17 over the final four minutes of the period, but WVU made it a 55-44 game heading into the fourth quarter.
Of note, Smith and fifth-year senior forward
Ari Gray accounted for 10 of West Virginia's 16 points in the third quarter.
The Mountaineers trailed by 14 to begin the fourth quarter, as the Cyclones added three points to their total to begin the frame. WVU then cut the lead back to 10 points and trailed ISU, 58-48, with 7:38 remaining in the game. Iowa State then went back up by 14 over the next two minutes and held a 64-50 lead with 5:29 left in the final quarter.
West Virginia got as close as 11 points down the stretch, but ISU continued to counter on its end of the court and outscored WVU, 10-7, over the final five minutes of the game. The final two tallies of the game came after Mountaineer coach
Mike Carey was assessed a double technical with 14 seconds to play and was ejected from the game.
Next up, West Virginia travels to Kansas City, Missouri, for the 2022 Phillips 66 Big 12 Women's Basketball from March 10-13. The bracket and seedings for this year's championship will be announced in the coming days.
