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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — With a potential top-four seed at next week's Big 12 Tournament still in play, Utah put together one of its worst performances of conference play Wednesday night.
The Utes finished with 28 turnovers and No. 18 West Virginia capitalized with 35 points on the other end to overwhelm the visiting team with a 75-46 win.
West Virginia's Ja'Naiya Quinerly, who played her final game at the WVU Coliseum, was unstoppable Wednesday night. The senior guard had a career-high performance, finishing with a West Virginia (22-6, 12-5 Big 12) record-tying 38 points on 16-of-21 shooting — including 4-of-5 from 3-point range — in 29 minutes.
It didn't look good for Quinerly early when she picked up two fouls 30 seconds apart from each other, sending the senior to the bench. But West Virginia head coach Mark Kellogg rolled the dice and inserted her back in the game a few minutes later.
The gamble paid off and Quinerly made Utah (21-7, 12-5 Big 12) pay.
And though Quinerly was unstoppable on offense, it was Utah's inability to get into a rhythm in the game that was the story of the night. Though turnovers were a major contributor to Utah's ills, it was compounded by the team shooting just 31% from the field and 22% from 3-point range.
As if that wasn't enough, Gianna Kneepkens picked up two early fouls and was forced to ride the bench for the bulk of the first half. Utah head coach Gavin Petersen wasn't in the gambling mood, and Kneepkens only played eight minutes in the first half.
Kneepkens opened up the second half with a 3-pointer, but Utah went on to commit five turnovers in almost consecutive fashion, and West Virginia quickly built up its largest lead of the game that eventually swelled to 29 in the fourth quarter.
Kneepkens finished with just 9 points on 4-of-9 shooting in 25 minutes of action. Maye Toure was the only Utah player to finish in double figures, contributing 12 points and nine rebounds in the loss.
No player other than Quinerly finished in double figures for the Mountaineers.
Utah closes out the regular season on Saturday against rival BYU (1:30 p.m. MST) at the Huntsman Center. With a win, the Utes would finish as a No. 6 seed in the Big 12 Tournament.
