MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Nine games into Mark Kellogg’s tenure as head coach, West Virginia’s women’s basketball team has performed as well as could be expected.
The Mountaineers moved to 9-0 with Sunday’s resounding 64-point win against overmatched Delaware State, which marked the fifth victory by 20-plus points. Two others came by exactly 18, and only in wins at Pitt and against George Washington has WVU been involved in contests decided by single digits.
“We’re nowhere near a polished product yet,” Kellogg said.
If so, that should bode well in the near future for a team projected to finish eighth in the 14-team Big 12 Conference. Two more non-league games remain for West Virginia before jumping into conference play, at which point the challenges will undoubtedly become more difficult and 103-47 wins a thing of the past.
Yet for Kellogg, there’s value in taking time to appreciate the unbeaten start to the season, which includes four victories away from the WVU Coliseum. Kellogg is West Virginia’s third head coach in as many seasons, and while he and the staff were able to retain numerous integral pieces to enhance the personnel for this season, the Mountaineers have come together in rapid fashion.
“I didn’t think we were going to connect how we did. The fact that we’re all legit friends off the court, it makes it a lot easier and more fun when we are on the court,” said guard JJ Quinerly, who had the best statistical showing of her career Sunday with 25 points, 12 assists, eight rebounds and seven steals.
Quinerly, Kyah Watson, Kylee Blacksten, Jayla Hemingway, Tavy Diggs and Messiah Hunter are holdovers from last season, when the Mountaineers won 19 games and qualified for the NCAA Tournament.
The addition of starters Jordan Harrison and Lauren Fields has been pivotal and reserves Tirzah Moore and Danelle Arigbabu add punch in the paint.
“The kids compete and we have good energy when we play,” Kellogg said. “They enjoy playing the game, so they play with a joy because of that. That’s the stuff you have to make sure you’re doing and that’s covering up some of the mistakes. We’re going to make mistakes and we’re only nine games into this tenure, so the X and O pieces won’t always be perfect. At least compete, and let’s fix it while we play hard and hopefully fix it while we win, which is what we’ve been able to do.
At the forefront of the Mountaineers’ success has been their ability to disrupt opposing teams — something Kellogg made known would consistently be a goal for his squad.
West Virginia is forcing 25.1 turnovers per game — the fourth best mark in Division I and second among Power 5 teams. The Mountaineers’ 14.8 steals on average are also second nationally and have helped lead to a plus-9.89 turnover margin, which is good for No. 3 in the country.
Full court pressure is a staple of Kellogg’s teams and the presence of Quinerly, Harrison and Fields has proved problematic for opponents to handle. Harrison and Fields have 26 steals apiece, allowing the aforementioned trio to combine for 80 of the Mountaineers’ 133 steals.
“Those steals and getting in transition and going quick, that’s us,” said Quinerly who leads the team with 28 steals. “We expect that.”
One week after West Virginia got one vote in The Associated Press Top 25, the Mountaineers received 21 votes this time around — with an 18-point victory over nationally-ranked Penn State and the lopsided win over Delaware State added to their resume.
That leaves WVU 29th nationally, and with the Mountaineers out of action until a December 18 matchup against Wright State, they are sure to still be 9-0 when the next batch of national rankings are released.
“When it happens, we’ll talk about it and have a brief moment to celebrate it, because you work really hard to get there,” Kellogg said. “It’s way harder once you get there and I’ve been a part of some of those programs — climbing the mountain is really difficult, but staying up there when you get up there is extremely difficult.”
The Mountaineers have not been ranked by the AP since November 2021, though Quinerly is hopeful that’ll soon change.
“We can be better than that. They tend to look away from us a lot, which this year, we’re going to speak to a lot of people and open a lot of eyes,” Quinerly said. “It’s going to be great to see everybody’s eyes opening and see us coming into that top 25.”