KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The No. 16 ranked West Virginia women's basketball team fell to top-seeded and No. 8 TCU with a 71-65 loss inside the T-Mobile Center on Saturday afternoon during the Phillips 66 Big 12 Women's Basketball Championship Semifinals.
 
Senior guard JJ Quinerly led the way with 20 points in the loss to hit the mark for the fourth straight contest. Senior guard Kylee Blacksten and junior guard Sydney Shaw finished with 11 points and junior guard Jordan Harrison finished with 10. Shaw added a team-leading seven rebounds.
 
Blacksten knocked down back-to-back threes on the Mountaineers opening two possessions before five straight points from Quinerly gave WVU an early 11-7 lead. TCU scored on two threes to take a two-point advantage at the media timeout. TCU took a slight 17-13 lead at the end of one.
 
The Horned Frogs caught fire in the second quarter, outscoring the Mountaineers 23-12. The struggles afforded TCU a 40-25 lead at the break.
 
It was all West Virginia out of the break, outscoring TCU 10-2 over the opening three minutes to cut the deficit down to seven points at 42-35. The Horned Frogs first made field goal came at the six-minute mark as TCU strung together back-to-back threes to push its lead back to double figures at the media timeout.
 
The Mountaineers scored seven straight points to cut the TCU lead down to six with two minutes to play. Harrison's buzzer-beater three at the end of the third saw WVU trailing by just five points entering the final frame.
 
TCU extended their lead back out to as many as 12 points over the first three minutes of the fourth quarter. WVU cut it back to a five-point game with four minutes to play but it was as close as the Mountaineers got in their comeback bid.
 
Next up, West Virginia will await the NCAA Tournament selection show on Sunday, March 16 which will air on ESPN at 8 p.m. ET.