By: Chris Coombs | WVU Athletics
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University women’s basketball team defeated Kent State 88-47 on Friday evening inside Hope Coliseum in Morgantown.
Senior guard Sydney Shaw had a career-high 23 points in the win, knocking down five attempts from beyond the arc while finishing the game an efficient 7 of 10 from the floor. She also crashed the glass in the contest to finish one shy of a team lead with six rebounds.
The Mountaineers finished with 20 points in each of the four quarters and bolstered a 48.4% mark from the field to roll to their second win of the season. The West Virginia defense forced the Golden Flashes into 32 turnovers, marking the second straight game this season WVU has reached 30 in the category. The miscues led to half of West Virginia’s points, accounting for 45 of WVU’s total points.
WVU finished the contest with five in double figures. Graduate forward Kierra Wheeler finished with 17 points and a game-high four steals. Senior guard Jordan Harrison added 13 points, as juniors Riley Makalusky and Gia Cooke each finished with 12. Senior guard Sydney Woodley finished with a game-high seven rebounds.
Leading by four after the opening five minutes, the Mountaineers finished the opening frame on a 12-4 scoring spurt to take a 12-point lead. Kent State went 0 of 4 from the floor and coughed up four turnovers out of the media timeout to the one-minute mark. Leading by 13 points, KSU scored four points in the final minute before a buzzer-beater corner three from Makalusky put the WVU lead back to double digits.
Kent State trimmed the WVU advantage down to seven in the opening minutes of the second before Wheeler and Harrison combined for eight points to give the Mountaineers a 30-20 lead at the media break. WVU allowed just one Golden Flash basket the rest of the way, finishing the final five minutes on a 12-2 run and a 20-point advantage at halftime.
WVU applied the pressure late in the second quarter, forcing seven KSU turnovers over the final three minutes. WVU collected 11 steals and forced 18 turnovers in the opening half.
West Virginia continued to roll in the second half, outscoring Kent State 46-25 over the final 20 minutes of action. The Mountaineers led by as many as 44 points midway through the fourth quarter.
The win moves the Mountaineers to 23-1 in non-conference games during the Kellogg Era. It also marks the 19th straight win at home, dating back to the end of the 2023-24 season. The home dominance is the second-longest home winning streak in program history, trailing only a run of 31 straight home wins from 2009-2011
West Virginia moves to 8-3 all-time in the series against Kent State and is now 23-6 all-time against Mid-American Conference members.
Of note, the Mountaineers have not lost at home to a non-Power 5 opponent since Dec. 20, 2012, vs. Duquesne. Additionally, the Mountaineers have won 37 straight non-conference regular season contests inside the WVU Coliseum dating back to the 2018-19 season.
Next up, West Virginia takes on Temple on Tuesday, Nov. 11, inside Hope Coliseum in Morgantown. The Mountaineers and Owls are set to tip off at 7 p.m. ET.
