2022-23 Outlook

The west virginia University women’s basketball team returned to the court on Thursday, Sept. 29, for its first official practice of the 2022-23 season� First-year coach Dawn Plitzuweit’s squad features seven student-athletes from last year’s team and six newcomers�

Madisen Smith

A FIFTH YEAR IN THE OLD GOLD & BLUE

Fifth-year senior guard Madisen Smith has played in 112 games across her first four seasons at west virginia, including 107 starts – both of which are tops on the team� The Greenville, South Carolina, native also has amassed 885 points, 429 assists, 255 rebounds and 125 steals during that span� Additionally, Smith has scored in double figures 37 times and led West Virginia in scoring 11 times� what’s more, 14 of those double-digit games came during the 2021-22 season, which also saw Smith score 20 or more points twice and lead wvU in points eight times� Smith carried a stat line of 9�1 points, 2�4 rebounds, 4�3 assists and 1�1 steals per game a season ago and is looking to build upon that in her fifth year in Morgantown. in 2021-22, she scored 274 points, which was the second-best mark on the team and marked her most points in a season for her career� Additionally, Smith’s 9�1 points per game average also was a career best and checked in at 1�6 better than her scoring average in her first 82 career games. in all-time program history, Smith is No� 10 in assists and is tied for No� 10 in starts� Moreover, she ranks in the top 15 in program history in minutes played and is the only Mountaineer with multiple 50-minute games in their career� Last year, Smith played all 50 minutes in a pair of double-overtime contests for wvU; once at oklahoma on Feb� 5, 2022, and again at Kansas State on March 2, 2022� Smith earned Honorable Mention status on this year’s Preseason All-Big 12 Team�

QUINERLY LOOKS TO BUILD ON SOLID FRESHMAN CAMPAIGN

Coming off one of a freshman year that yielded a unanimous selection to the Big 12’s All-Freshman Team, sophomore guard JJ Quinerly that same momentum into her second year with the Mountaineers� A native of Norfolk, virginia, Quinerly became the fourth Mountaineer to be named to the league’s All-Freshman Team in 2022, joining Bria Holmes (2013), Tynice Martin (2016) and Madisen Smith (2019)� During her inaugural campaign, she averaged 8�8 points, 2�5 rebounds, 2�7 assists and 2�3 steals per game� of note, her 2�3 steals per game were good enough for the team lead in 2021-22� Last year, Quinerly was one of four Mountaineers to play in all 30 games, earning 12 starts� Additionally, she racked up a team-high 68 steals a season ago, the most by a Mountaineer freshman since Maria Tchobanova tallied 74 during the 1995-96 season� Offensively, Quinerly finished with 10 or more points in 10 games last season, including a career-best, 22-point outing against Kansas

JJ Quinerly

on Feb� 9, 2022� Her 22 points against the Jayhawks helped her earn the Big 12 Freshman of the week on Feb� 14, 2022� Quinerly also earned Honorable Mention status on this year’s Preseason All-Big 12 Team�

MORE ON THE RETURNERS

Senior guard Jayla Hemingway and junior guard Savannah Samuel also return for west virginia this season, and each saw their fair share of the court a season ago� Hemingway was one of two Mountaineers to play in and start all 30 games a year ago and averaged 5�2 points, 2�7 rebounds and 1�3 assists per game� Additionally, the Collierville, Tennessee, native posted the best scoring outing of her collegiate career in 2021-22� Against oklahoma on Feb� 5, 2022, Hemingway scored 16 points on 5-of-8 (62�5%) shooting and hauled in four rebounds� Samuel also saw action in all 30 games last season and averaged 4�2 points and 1�5 rebounds per game� The woodstock, Georgia, native finished in double figures twice a year ago, with both instances coming in the last three games of 2021-22� redshirt sophomore forward isis Beh, redshirt freshman forward Messiah Hunter and redshirt freshman guard wynter rogers also return for wvU this year� The trio did not see game action last season and redshirted�

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK

Coach Dawn Plitzuweit and her staff brought in six newcomers to finalize the 2022-23 wvU women’s basketball roster including two fifth-year seniors, one senior, one junior, one redshirt sophomore and a freshman� Fifth-year senior guard Sarah Bates transferred from Georgia Tech, where she spent the last three seasons� She also spent time at UC Santa Barbara and Kansas State before GT� in her four seasons of action, Bates has played in 88 games, with 44 starts, and has scored 585 points� Additionally, she has 129 assists and 143 rebounds in her career�

Fifth-year senior guard Danni Nichols transferred from western illinois, where she earned multiple Summit League honors for the Leathernecks, including a Second Team All-Summit League selection in 2021-22 and the 2019 Summit League Freshman of the Year award� Nichols played in 113 games, with 101 starts, and scored 1,344 points� She carries a scoring average of 11�9 points� Additionally, Nichols hauled in 477 rebounds, dished out 186 assists and tallied 154 steals during her career at western illinois� Senior forward Tavy Diggs transferred from TCU, where she spent the previous three seasons� in her career with the Horned Frogs, she played in 63 games and scored 405 points� She also totaled 188 rebounds, 71 assists and 42 steals during that span� Junior Kylee Blacksten transferred from Colorado, where she played the last two seasons� Last season, Blacksten played in 23 games for CU and helped the team to a 22-9 record and a berth in the NCAA Tournament� Additionally, she shot 30% from 3-point range during the 2021-22 campaign, which ranked No� 10 among Pac-12 post players with at least 20 attempts from deep� Prior to her time at Colorado, Blacksten starred at Air Academy High School in Colorado Springs, where she was an allconference selection in each of her four seasons as a Kadet� redshirt sophomore guard Kyah watson transferred from South Dakota, where she spent the last two seasons playing for Plitzuweit and her staff� She helped the Coyotes win two Summit League Tournament Championships, a regularseason championship and reach the NCAA Tournament in each of her two years, including the Sweet 16 in 2021-22� During the 2021-22 campaign, watson played in 34 games, with 33 starts, for USD and averaged 5�7 points, 4�3 rebounds and 2�0 assists per game� Additionally, watson finished in double figures five times last season, including a career-best 18 points against oral roberts on Feb� 26� She also hauled in five or more rebounds in 14 games, including 10 or more twice� in 2020-21, watson was limited to nine games in her first season with the Coyotes due to injury. She finished her career at South Dakota with 231 points, 174 rebounds and 80 assists� Freshman guard imarianah russell rounds out this year’s group of newcomers� The Columbus, ohio, native comes to west virginia listed as a four-star prospect by eSPN� Additionally, she is rated as the No� 83 player in the class of 2022 by eSPN� russell was selected as an all-state player in ohio each of her four seasons during high school, including back-to-back appearances on the Division i First Team in 2020-21 and 2021-22� A 2,000-point scorer and team captain for reynoldsburg, russell was named the team defensive MvP and freshman of the year in 2018-19, the team offensive MvP and her district’s top scorer in 2019-20 and the team MvP in 2020-21� West Virginia officially begins first season under Coach Plitzuweit on Thursday, Nov� 10, against USC Upstate at the wvU Coliseum in Morgantown� The Mountaineers open Big 12 Conference play on Saturday, Dec� 31, when they welcome oklahoma to the Coliseum on New Year’s eve�

Sarah Bates Kylee Blacksten