Baylor
21-6,10-6Big 12
West Virginia
22-5,11-5Big 12
No. 24 WBB Wins in Epic Fashion Against No. 22 WVU
2/24/2024 3:15:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Van Gytenbeek makes final two free throws to secure the win
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – In the most improbable of finishes, Jana Van Gytenbeek subbed in for an injured Jada Walker and calmly sank two free throws with 4.3 seconds left to help the 24th-ranked Baylor women pull out a 66-65 win over No. 22 West Virginia Saturday afternoon at WVU Coliseum.
After losing a double-digit lead and falling behind, 65-64, on a 3-pointer by JJ Quinerly, the Bears (21-6, 10-6) threw it away with 7.9 seconds left. But West Virginia (22-5, 11-5) returned the favor when JJ Quinerly lost control of the inbounds pass in the backcourt and was forced to foul Walker on a layup attempt.
"I feel bad for JJ Quinerly," Baylor coach Nicki Collen said of West Virginia's junior guard, who scored a career-high 33 points, "because she was a monster. For that to be the difference, and she fouls out on it, that's tough."
Van Gytenbeek, who had sat on the bench for more than five minutes, sank both free throws to give the Bears the lead back. For the season, she is now 10-for-12 from the line.
"When your head coach gives you a bear hug and tells you she has all the faith in the world in you, it's pretty easy for you to feel confident in that moment," said Van Gytenbeek, who hit two 3-pointers in the third quarter and finished with 10 points. "That could make me cry. I'm going to credit that to Nick and all the other coaches and teammates who told me I was going to make this."
With the Mountaineers out of timeouts and only 4.3 seconds to work with, Jordan Harrison went coast to coast and put up a floater that appeared to be deflected by Aijha Blackwell to seal the win for Baylor and give the Bears a season series sweep.
"I was proud of them because they never quit," Collen said. "Teams get in desperation mode, so we've got to have more poise in those late-game situations. But we also can't just stop playing. We can't step back. But you also have to give yourself credit for building up a lead to sustain. There's a reason you had a 12-point lead. You give yourself a cushion to make more mistakes down the stretch when teams are more Kamikaze and take more things away."
Whatever "cushion" Baylor had built up – a 12-point lead early in the fourth quarter and a 10-point edge with just over three minutes to play – disappeared in an ugly two-minute stretch when the Bears turned it over four-straight times and gave up 11 unanswered points.
Quinerly knocked down a 3-pointer from the wing with 1:09 left in the game that gave the Mountaineers their first lead since the first few minutes of the third quarter.
"Obviously, a huge shot by Quinerly, the 3 to put them up," Collen said. "That's the momentum changer when you go from fighting back to taking the lead."
After Blackwell appeared to stumble on a drive to the basket and missed a layup, West Virginia had a shot-clock turnover that gave the ball back to Baylor with 15.1 seconds on the clock, setting the stage for those unimaginable final seconds.
"The ball was literally right out of bounds," Van Gytenbeek said of the Mountaineers' inbounds play when they turned it over. "I thought (Walker) was going to let it go so we'd have a play, but she picked it up and we're waiting. We thought the ball was going to go in and it was going to be an and-one. Jada, that's an incredible play. I'm really proud of her."
In a game that featured eight lead changes and two ties, West Virginia scored all 16 of its first-quarter points on Baylor's 12 turnovers and had a three-point lead, 16-13.
"We had a bazillion turnovers," Collen said. "None of (the first-quarter turnovers) were against the press, they were all once we broke the press, other than Yaya (Felder) had a couple when I had her in. We got into the halfcourt, and our decision making in the halfcourt . . . we've got to grow in that area."
Trailing 28-25 at the break, the Bears came out on fire in the second half, matching their first-half output with a 25-point third quarter. Getting eight points apiece from Sarah Andrews and Van Gytenbeek, Baylor 71.4% in the third quarter, including 3-for-4 outside the arc.
Stretching the lead to 54-42 in the first minute of the third, when Walker hit a pull-up jumper and scored on a layup, Baylor had momentum and everything else on its side . . . until it didn't.
The Bears, who had four-straight turnovers in that two-minute stretch, turned it over again with 7.9 seconds remaining when Andrews overthrew Van Gytenbeek on a kick-out pass.
Harrison was a perfect 6-of-6 from the line and finished with 16 points for West Virginia. If Baylor wins out and the Mountaineers drop one of their last two, the Bears would claim the No. 4 seed and a bye into the quarterfinals for the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City.
Andrews had a team-high 14 for Baylor, which also got 11 points and nine rebounds from Darianna Littlepage-Buggs and 10 points apiece from Van Gytenbeek, Blackwell and Bella Fontleroy.
Baylor stays on the road to face Cincinnati (13-14, 5-11) at 5 p.m. Tuesday before wrapping up the regular season with a matchup at home against Oklahoma State (13-14, 6-10) next Sunday, March 3, at Foster Pavilion.
GAME NOTES
- The No. 24 Baylor women's basketball team won its third-straight on Saturday afternoon, picking up the 66-65 nail-biting win at No. 22 West Virginia.
- With hard contact on Jada Walker with less than five seconds left on the clock, and a one-point deficit, Jana Van Gytenbeek subbed into the game and drilled a pair of game-winning free throws.
- The victory marked BU's sixth top-25 win of the year – the most among teams in the Big 12.
- The Bears are tied with UConn, NC State, South Carolina and UCLA for the nation's lead in ranked wins this season.
- Head coach Nicki Collen is tied for fourth with UConn's Geno Auriemma in top-25 regular season wins since taking over at Baylor ahead of the 2021-22 season with 15 under her belt.
- Baylor outrebounded WVU, 31-24, and moved to 17-1 this season when grabbing more boards than its opponent.
- The Bears moved to 18-0 when shooting higher than their opponent this year, going 24-of-53 (45.3%) from the floor against the Mountaineers.
- Five Bears finished in double scoring marking the first time since BU's game at Houston on Feb. 4 that at least five players notched double figures.
- Additionally, it marked the third time this year that five-or-more scored in double digits against a ranked foe.
- Darianna Littlepage-Buggs led the Bears on the boards, securing nine rebounds while Aijha Blackwell finished with eight.
- Littlepage-Buggs and Van Gytenbeek each dished out a team-leading three assists while Walker added a trio of steals.
