MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — If all goes well in Mark Kellogg’s first season as WVU head coach, Monday’s 83-65 win over Penn State will be a bullet point but not the headline in their season. The Mountaineers improved to 8-0 with a comprehensive victory over the No. 25 Lady Lions.
“I told them in the locker room that I hope this isn’t the win we talk about late in the year. I hope it is not the only Top 25 win that we have,” Kellogg said. “I hope there’s a lot more coming down the line but this is certainly something to build off of just because of the quality of Penn State and the operation they have.
“I thought our effort and our energy was phenomenal from the jump. I had seen spurts of that throughout the season, but we just hadn’t put it all together.”
“We knew we could do it,” WVU sophomore guard Jordan Harrison said. “It was just getting an opportunity to. It is definitely a confidence booster.”
The Mountaineers took a lead they would not relinquish with a 12-0 run in the closing minutes of the first half. WVU led 41-31 at halftime and they extended that cushion to 16 points midway through the third quarter.
Penn State (7-2) crept within 7 points a minute into the fourth quarter by opening the frame with back-to-back baskets. However, the Mountaineers went on a 14-4 burst and they held a double-digit advantage the rest of the way.
With a consistent pressure defense, the Mountaineers collected 18 steals and forced 26 PSU turnovers which the Mountaineers converted into 31 points.
“To turn them over 26 times — we held their two leading scorers to eight combined points. One of them didn’t score so it was a great job by everybody on the defensive end,” Kellogg said.
“I didn’t know if we could turn Penn State over like we had been turning some of the other teams over. But we wanted to stay with it.”
Five Mountaineers scored in double digits. JJ Quinerly led the way with 22 points. Kyah Watson added 15 points and she pulled down a team-best 8 rebounds. Harrison filled up the stat sheet with 14 points, 9 assists, 6 steals and 4 rebounds. Lauren Fields (12) and Tavy Diggs (10) also scored in double figures.
“This is game eight for us. That is so early in a tenure. But we have some veteran kids that have some big wins and played in big moments.”
The Mountaineers have three home games remaining in their non-conference schedule prior to a holiday break. WVU will host Delaware State, Wright State and Niagara prior to the start of Big 12 play.
“If we want to be great, we have to be consistent,” Kellogg said. “We have to prepare the same way, which we will do as coaches.”
“We made a goal at the beginning of the season to be undefeated in non-conference,” Fields said. “We can’t just be looking for Christmas break. We’ve got to come out and finish those three games undefeated.”