CINCINNATI - West Virginia senior guard JJ Quinerly led all scorers with 31 points and junior guard Jordan Harrison put in 21 points to lead the Mountaineers (23-6, 13-5) past the Cincinnati Bearcats (15-13, 7-11) Saturday afternoon 85-69.
West Virginia got off to a sluggish start, shooting 1-6 from the field before Quinerly drove the lane for the bucket and Jordan Harrison followed with a three for an 8-5 lead at the 6:41 mark of the first quarter.
Freshman forward Jordan Thomas scored six straight and Quinerly buried a three to cap an 11-2 run to take a 19-9 advantage, but the Bearcats got within six before the end of the quarter, 21-15.
Jordan Harrison scored five straight to extend the Mountaineer lead to 13 with seven minutes remaining in the first half.
Cincinnati senior guard Tineya Hylton and freshman guard Chloe Mann buried threes to cut the WVU lead to seven, but Quinerly responded with a three and scored seven of the Mountaineers' final nine points to cap a 24-point first half to push the lead to fourteen, 44-30, at halftime.
West Virginia built a 19-point advantage after Harrison scored five points in the first four minutes of the second half, while Thomas chipped in four points. Then, a pair of free throws from Sydney Shaw gave WVU a 57-37 lead at the 4:23 mark of the third quarter.
Cincinnati cut the lead to 13 early in the fourth quarter, but an 11-2 run by the Mountaineers built their largest lead of 22 points with 5:46 to play in the game.
The Bearcats gained some momentum with an 8-0 run to get within 14. However, Harrison attacked the basket, drew the foul and made both free throws and Quinerly got the steal and the lay-in to stretch the lead back to 18 as the Mountaineers cruised to 85-69 victory.