The West Virginia Mountaineers will take on the Cincinnati Bearcats in the second round of the Big 12 Women's conference tournament on Friday, March 8, at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City Mo.
Mark Kellogg and the Mountaineers came into the tournament with a first round bye and awaited the results of Thursday night's matchup between the UCF Knights and the Cincinnati Bearcats. The Bearcats would rally from behind in a 67-62 win to advance into the second round.
Sophomore A’riel Jackson led the charge for the Bearcats with 14 points in 26 minutes on the floor. Jackson is second on the team in points per game with 9.6 which is only 3.3 points per game behind the team leader, Senior forward Jillion Hayes.
The first time these two teams met this season the then ranked #24 Mountaineers had a 68-53 win at the West Virginia Coliseum back in January.
In the most recent matchup however, West Virginia held Cincinnati scoreless in the first quarter and got out to a quick 15-0 lead. The JJ Quinerly & Jordan Harrison Duo had a combined 38 point contribution to the 72-43 win in Cincinnati.
Coach Mark Kellogg said in the halftime coverage of the Cincinnati UCF game on Thursday, his team was fortunate enough to dodge the injury bug as it has affected other teams around the country. Junior JJ Quinerly is still day to day with a knee injury she suffered in the win over TCU on Saturday, March 2, 2024.
The Harrison,c Quinerly duo both had 14 points in the 57-49 win over TCU on Senior Day before the Mountaineers made their way to Kansas City.
Join Tannor Enyart on Play By Play and Brian McQuillen on Color, live from Kansas City, coverage starting at 8:45 p.m. with tip off scheduled for 9:00 p.m. EST. The U92 broadcast can be heard on 91.7 FM locally, u92themoose.com, an Alexa At-Home Device, or the RadioFX and TuneIn apps.
Photo Credit: WVU Athletics