West Virginia University second-year player Kylee Blacksten gives the Mountaineers another outside shooting threat. (Photo courtesy of BlueGoldNews.com)

MORGANTOWN — When West Virginia’s women’s basketball team opens its season against Towson on Tuesday night at the Coliseum, all eyes will be centered upon a backcourt duo of JJ Quinerly and Jordan Harrison, the engine that drives the high rev engine of the Mountaineers.

And when not occupied watching them create their defensive mania that turns into offensive hysteria, the fans will be looking to Sydney Shaw, the highly talented transfer from Auburn who brings a different dimension to the Mountaineer team that went 25-8 a year ago while reaching the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

But perhaps some time should spent watching the third of four returning starters in Kylee Blacksten, a player who this season figures to feel like a bird freed from a cage as she can become more the guard that she always believed she was rather than having to help out down low on an undersized team, as she did last season.

Blacksten, a fifth-year player who is in her second season at WVU after transferring from Colorado last year, brings with her an ability to shoot the 3-point shot, which will force opponents to guard her more on the perimeter, therefore opening up room for Quinerly and Harrison to drive to the basket.

Last season, since she was the tallest player on the team at 6-3, she was forced to take a beating down low most of the time, hindering her from utilizing her most effective weapon.

“It was a learning experience trying to learn how to play center,” she admitted in a recent interview session. “Being able to stretch the floor now, I’m excited to see what can happen.”

So is Kellogg, who has done a lot of studying on his offense last season and ways to improve it, finally settling on increased 3-point shot production as the key element.

“We went back and studied some of the top offenses in the country and what made them so elite,” Kellogg said. “A couple of things that we found that were interesting … of the top 15 offenses in the country in women’s basketball, 8½ 3s was the average made per game, and we were about at 7.1, so you are talking about 4½ points per game.

“We averaged about four more possessions than those top 15 teams, so we didn’t shoot it as well, didn’t make quite as many 3s, and we know we had a rebounding issue that we needed to get cleaned up, and so those were kind of things that we focused on,” Kellogg added. “Some of it might be personnel and some of it may be how we play. Maybe we want more possessions or maybe it’s the quality of shots and we need to get those better shots to shoot at a higher percentage. It could be that we just need to be a little more efficient, but we were like top five or top six defensively and 40th or 45th in offense.”

Kellogg felt it was crucial to increase the offensive output if they were to reach elite status as a team.

“If I remember correctly, every one of the top teams had a top-30 offense and a top-30 defense,” Kellogg said. “Maybe there was one team in there that didn’t have both, but for the most part, they were elite offensively and defensively. We were just a little behind on the offensive end, but certainly there on the defensive end.”

With this in mind, top scorer JJ Quinerly has spent a great deal of time working on her 3-point shot and Kellogg is going to feature an offense that will allow Blacksten more time in the guard role that she played through high school.

“When I grew up, I was more of a guard than anything else,” Blacksten said. “So, when I got here, it was learning how to play more of the five and the post play. Being able to stretch the floor a little bit more, I am super-excited to see what can happen from it.”

How does a 6-3 women’s basketball player become a guard and 3-point shooting oriented growing up?

“As a kid, I was pretty small,” Blacksten said Wednesday. “Then, I hit a growth spurt and that changed things a little bit.”

Last year she started 33 games and finished fourth among the Mountaineers with 27 3-point shots, a figure that almost certainly will increase this season.

And, her passing skills from her days as a guard allow her to set up outside and if the defense jumps her, she can hit a cutting Quinerly or Harrison going backdoor or off a pick to the basket.

It adds a different threat and versatility to the Mountaineers’ offense.

“It depends on how we want to play and who we are playing against,” Kellogg said. “Probably some so Kylee can play the five. She is not going to be the big, banger type of five. That’s not what we are going to ask her to do. But she can stretch the floor and space it, which gives those guards more room at the rim.”