Van Gytenbeek's free throws cap wild finish, No. 24 Baylor women edge No. 22 West Virginia 66-65

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West Virginia's costly turnover fuels Baylor win

JJ Quinerly turns the ball over and Baylor takes advantage to secure a nail-biting victory on the road.

Updated: Feb 24, 2024, 09:52 pm

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- — Jana Van Gytenbeek came off the bench to make two free throws with 4.3 seconds left and No. 24 Baylor pulled out a wild 66-65 win over No. 22 West Virginia on Saturday.

Down one, Baylor threw the ball away on a cross-court pass with 7.9 seconds left. On the inbounds after a West Virginia timeout that advanced the ball to midcourt, the Mountaineers threw the ball into the backcourt for JJ Quinerly, who mishandled it. Quinerly saved the ball from going out of bounds in the corner, but Jada Walker was there to scoop it up.

Walker drove the baseline to the basket, but her layup rolled off the rim as she was fouled from behind by Quinerly. It was the fifth foul for Quinerly, who had a career-high 33 points. Walker was injured on the play, which led to Van Gytenbeek, a senior transfer from Stanford, being subbed in to shoot.

Van Gytenbeek, who was 8 of 10 from the foul line for the season, swished both shots. Jordan Harrison's potential game winner appeared to be partially blocked by Aijha Blackwell as time ran out.

Sarah Andrews scored 14 points for Baylor (21-6, 10-6 Big 12 Conference), who won the first meeting 65-58 and improved to 6-3 against ranked opponents. Darianna Littlepage-Buggs had 11 points and nine rebounds and Van Gytenbeek, Blackwell and Bella Fontleroy all had 10 points.

Harrison scored 16 points for West Virginia (22-5, 11-5), which went 1-2 in a string of three-straight ranked opponents.

Littlepage-Buggs made two free throws with 3:17 left to give Baylor a 64-54 lead. Quinerly had nine points in an 11-0 burst with her 3-pointer with 1:09 to go making it 65-64. Baylor had five turnovers in the last 2 1/2 minutes and 24 in the game that were turned into 36 points.

West Virginia forced 12 turnovers in the first quarter and scored all of its points after miscues to lead 16-13. Quinerly scored the Mountaineers' first eight points and her teammates had an 8-0 burst over the last 68 seconds to grab the lead.

Quinerly scored the Mountaineers last eight points of the second quarter for a 28-25 halftime lead. Twice the Bears got within one, but Quinerly responded both times.

Andrews and Van Gytenbeek scored eight points each in the third quarter, combining to make 3 of 4 three-pointers, and Baylor took a 50-42 lead. The Bears were 10 of 14 in the third quarter when West Virginia was 6 of 14.

Baylor is at Cincinnati on Tuesday and West Virginia is at Oklahoma State.

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