No. 17 West Virginia women pull away in 3rd quarter to beat UCF 74-62

Audio By Carbonatix

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Gia Cooke scored 19 points, Jordan Harrison added 16 and No. 17 West Virginia pulled away from UCF in the third quarter for a 74-62 victory on Wednesday night.

UCF led 27-25 at the break, but West Virginia outscored the Knights 31-9 in the third quarter for a 20-point advantage heading into the final period. Harrison scored eight points, Cooke added seven and Sydney Shaw chipped in with six. The Mountaineers hit all three of their 3-pointers and shot 76.5% (13 of 17) from the field in the third.

Cooke shot 6 of 16 overall, and Harrison was 6 of 7 from the floor. Cooke made four 3-pointers, and Shaw scored all nine of her points from behind the arc. Carter McCray and Kierra Wheeler each added 12 points for West Virginia (23-6, 13-4 Big 12).

Khyala Ngodu scored 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead UCF (10-18, 2-15), which has lost 10 straight.

West Virginia shot 52% overall while UCF hit 51%, but the Mountaineers made 7 of 15 from long range while the Knights missed all six of their attempts from distance. West Virginia also scored 22 points off 22 UCF turnovers.

The Mountaineers dominated the season's first meeting with a 106-56 win. It was the most points scored in a conference game in program history.

West Virginia hosts Cincinnati on Sunday in a regular-season finale.

UCF ends its regular season on Sunday at Houston.

___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball