MORGANTOWN, W.Va — Madisen Smith scored six points and JJ Quinerly and Kyah Watson added five each in the pivotal third quarter as West Virginia pulled away to beat No. 21 Iowa State 73-60 on Saturday.
Trailing by one at the half, West Virginia outscored Iowa State 22-13 in the third quarter, capped by a Danni Nichols 3-pointer, for a 56-48 lead. A 7-2 surge in the fourth stretched the Mountaineers’ lead to 63-50 with 5:55 remaining.
The Cyclones pulled within 65-57 but didn’t get closer. The Mountaineers had a 15-point lead with 19 seconds left.
Quinerly led West Virginia (15-8, 6-6 Big 12) with 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Watson finished with 11 points and Smith nine. Jayla Hemingway also had nine points to go with 12 rebounds and four assists.
Ashley Joens scored 17 points and had nine rebounds for Iowa State (15-7, 7-5), which lost its third straight game. The Cyclones shot just 24% (7 of 29) in the second half. Joens, the Big 12's leading scorer averaging 20.1 points and 9.1 rebounds per game, shot just 1 of 2 from the line in the third quarter without a field-goal attempt and had three points in the fourth before fouling out.
Emily Ryan added 13 points and Denae Fritz had 11 for the Cyclones.
Iowa State hosts Texas on Monday. West Virginia is at home against Kansas on Wednesday.
