West Virginia women’s basketball coach Mark Kellogg has been upfront regarding the importance of hosting games in the NCAA Tournament.
The 15th-ranked Mountaineers took a major step toward enhancing their case for a host bid Sunday, defeating No. 10 TCU 62-53 for the program’s second Big 12 Conference Championship at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.
“We have unbelievable character around us, the players included. All the credit to those guys,” WVU head coach Mark Kellogg said. ”They did the hard work. We just try to put the plans together and put them in place and let these kids showcase what they’re capable of and that was on display tonight.”
WVU (27-6) had lost a pair of competitive games to No. 1 seed TCU (29-5) in the regular season, including on a Marta Suarez three-pointer at the buzzer in Morgantown.
But in the third meeting between the teams over the last two months, the Mountaineers never trailed in the second half.
WVU point guard Jordan Harrison scored nine of her game-high 21 points in the opening half, which the Mountaineers on a 7-0 run to lead 26-23.
Kellogg’s team gained separation in the latter stages of the third quarter, increasing what was a two-point advantage almost 4 minutes into the second half to an 11-point lead through three frames.
A 9-2 spurt over the final 4:02 of the third was pivotal and began with Carter McCray’s second-chance bucket. That stretch also included jumpers from Gia Cooke and Harrison, one free throw from McCray and Harrison’s driving layup just before time expired that left WVU with a 43-32 lead ahead of the fourth.
A three-pointer from Sydney Shaw with 8:45 remaining left TCU with a 46-34 deficit, and it grew to 14 on separate occasions in the final quarter.
The Mountaineers had a 56-43 advantage when Harrison made two free throws with 1:30 left, but the Horned Frogs didn’t go away quietly.
TCU was to within six less than a minute later five consecutive points from Suarez and two free throws from Veronica Sheffey.
Harrison then made two fouls shots to up the lead to eight, and after a defensive stop, Shaw got free for a transition layup that all but wrapped up the result.
CHEERS TO YOU, MARK KELLOGG 👏#Big12WBB | @phillips66gas pic.twitter.com/il5uMlVDHW
— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) March 8, 2026
“I don’t know if we put all four quarters together, but we’re getting closer and closer,” Kellogg said. “When you’re playing elite talent, and probably Suarez and [Olivia] Miles are going to be top 10 draft picks, you try to be disruptive and keep them off-balance and defend the rest of the really good players. We did a good job on them for the most part. They hit a few threes late. Our kids were dialed into the game plan and executed, but they compete. They’ll get out and get after you, guard and they’re relentless.”
The result gives WVU its second Big 12 Championship in what marked the program’s fourth appearance in the Big 12 final.
In addition to being the game’s high scorer, Harrison had six rebounds, four steals and three assists. She was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player and joins Shaw on the five-player all-tournament team.
“We knew the things on the line and that’s something we talked about,” Harrison said. “We want to get two [NCAA Tournament] games in Morgantown, but we wanted to stay in the present of the game and situation. We knew if we did that then this would be the outcome of it.”
Shaw scored 17 to go with seven rebounds and Kierra ‘MeMe’ Wheeler added 10 points and eight boards. McCray also had eight rebounds, as WVU won the board battle, 41-34.
TCU shot 33 percent overall and 8 for 31 from long range.
Miles led the Horned Frogs with 17 points and Suarez scored 16 on 19 field-goal attempts to go with a team-high eight rebounds.
Miles and Suarez are also on the all-tournament team, as is Kansas State’s Jordan Speiser.
TCU’s three-lowest scoring outputs this season are the three games against the Mountaineers in which they managed 51, 59 and 53 points.
West Virginia will discover its opponent and site for the NCAA Tournament opener next Sunday.
WVU will enter the NCAA Tournament having won six straight and 10 of 11.
“We’ve just gotten better. Our non-league schedule was really good and put us in these situations,” Kellogg said. “We’re getting comfortable in this now and even in this tournament, [teams] made runs at us in the fourth quarter and that’s where you see us relax and make those runs. Thankfully we played from in front tonight where it felt comfortable.”
The Mountaineers discover their opponent and site for the opening round of the NCAA Tournament next Sunday. The top 16 seeds (four in each region) are awarded host sites. Entering Sunday, WVU had a NET rating of 18 and TCU’s was 10.