Blacksten Giving Mountaineer Women a Big Boost – West Virginia University Athletics

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Kylee Blacksten sure picked the right time to be playing the best basketball of her college career.
 
The senior forward tallied a career-high 24 points in West Virginia’s runaway 89-59 victory at Arizona State on Wednesday night, the latest in a string of quality games she’s put together for the 16^th-ranked Mountaineers, now 16-3 overall and No. 11 in today’s NCAA NET rankings.
 
Blacksten’s surge began three weeks ago with a double-digit scoring performance in a blowout road victory at Texas Tech and continued with a 16-point effort in a close road loss at Oklahoma State, which just knocked off No. 9 TCU in Stillwater.
 
She contributed 10 points and six rebounds in a blowout home win against Colorado and then added eight points on three-of-three shooting in just 11 minutes of action in a home victory against Iowa State.
 
Her limited usage against the Cyclones was the result of her getting into early foul trouble while battling Iowa State center Audi Crooks, but she was part of a four-player effort that limited Crooks to a season-low 13 points, nine less than her season average.
 
In her most recent outing, Blacksten made seven-of-12 from the floor, including three-of-five from behind the 3-point arc, and hit all seven of her free throws. 
 
She is averaging 13.6 points per contest over her last five games, four of those Mountaineer victories.
 
Overall, the Colorado Springs, Colorado, resident has boosted her season scoring average to 8.4 points per game, which is giving West Virginia yet another reliable offensive threat.
 
Senior guard J.J. Quinerly’s 19 points-per-game average leads the Mountaineers, while junior guards Jordan Harrison (14.1 ppg.) and Sydney Shaw (12.5 ppg.) have been the team’s other two primary scorers.
 
Because of what Blacksten is now adding to the lineup with her perimeter scoring and improved defense, that is causing opponents to have to adjust their lineups, like Arizona State did two nights ago.
 
“I don’t know if Arizona State changed their lineup because of (Blacksten), but we thought maybe that was to match up with Kylee a little bit,” West Virginia coach Mark Kellogg noted.
 
Kellogg inherited Blacksten from the prior coaching staff, who discovered her in the transfer portal after two seasons at Colorado.
Since then, she’s made significant strides in her all-around game, mainly because Kellogg is not asking her to do things she can’t do.
 
“We play her in a different role than some people might think of as a five player,” he explained. “We don’t ask her to be a back-to-the-basket player. We want to use her the other way and stretch the floor and give us some space to the rim.”
 
Just ask Crooks, one of the best post players in women’s college basketball. Kylee’s quickness, endless energy and effective outside shooting played a role in Crooks’ rare off-day last Sunday in Morgantown.
 
Blacksten has done this to other traditional post players as well, which makes her such a big asset in Kellogg’s frenetic, up-and-down, baseline-to-baseline style he has brought to West Virginia, resulting in the Mountaineers winning 41 of their last 52 games.
 
Blacksten’s development under Kellogg has included the ability to score off the bounce going to the basket, something her other coaches really never asked her to do that much. 
 
Until recently, her game was mostly spent behind the 3-point arc.
 
“I think it’s something where you always try to grow, whether it’s the defensive end or offensive end,” she said of her recent development. “It’s always wanting to continue to get better in any aspect that I need to be. I think I’ve grown a little bit more in the low post area because that’s not where I grew up playing, so it’s kind of been a switch of mentality.”
 
Her coach could not agree more.
 
“She is playing really well and is playing with a ton of confidence right now,” he remarked. “She has always had the ability to do it. She might be sometimes undersized for what we are asking her to do, depending upon the matchup, but she just played against Audi Crooks, and I thought she did a phenomenal job defensively in that game.
 
“She’s playing the best I’ve seen her play since I’ve been here, and I sure hope it continues,” he concluded.
 
West Virginia remains in the Grand Canyon State and will face Arizona in Tucson on Saturday night. The Wildcats were recent 10-point winners over Cincinnati to improve to 13-8 overall and 4-4 in Big 12 play.
 
The Mountaineers are tied with 6-2 Oklahoma State for fourth place in the league standings behind Kansas State (7-0), TCU (7-1) and Baylor (6-1).
 
Tip off for Saturday’s game is 8:30 p.m. and it will be televised on ESPN+.