Plitzuweit, West Virginia women beat No. 18 Baylor 74-65

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Madisen Smith and Ja’Naiya Quinerly scored 17 points apiece, Jayla Hemingway added 15 points and 14 rebounds and West Virginia’s defense forced seven fourth-quarter turnovers as the Mountaineers beat No. 18 Baylor 74-65 Sunday.

Dawn Plitzuweit was the head coach of South Dakota in her first season at West Virginia. 10 seed in 2022 NCAA Tournament, beating Baylor in round one before the Mountaineers were eliminated in round two.

After consecutive 20-plus point defeats to No. 19 Oklahoma and at No. 15 Iowa State, improved to 4-22 overall against Baylor, 1-9 away.

Sarah Andrews scored 24 points with four 3-pointers. Darianna L.Buggs contributed 14 points and 15 boards. Caitlin Bickle added 10 points to Baylor’s score (12-4, 3-1).

After a loss to Oklahoma State, the Bears had just lost 70-65. This ended a four-game winning streak.

Baylor ended the first half on a 16-1 run that gave them a one point lead at halftime. Andrews scored seven points, while Littlepage-Buggs added four in an 11-2 run that gave Baylor 10 point lead just 3 minutes into the second quarter. Smith’s 3 at 1:33 was the final time the Mountaineers had scored more than 20 of the 27 points they needed to lead by one point. Three more lead changes followed by three ties and Smith hit a jumper. Kylee Blacksten then followed with a layup, a 3-pointer, and Kyah Watson scored inside the lane to complete a 9-0 run. West Virginia was leading thereon.

The Bears shot 3 of 16 (18.8%) from the field — 0 for 6 from 3-point range — and scored just eight points in the fourth quarter.

UP NEXT

Baylor will be returning home to face Kansas State on Wednesday

Wednesday: West Virginia at No. 23 Kansas

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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25