At the end of January, and Big 12 Conference play, it’s just about stacking wins, and No. 22 West Virginia women’s basketball did that Wednesday night against Arizona State. It was tough, physical and wasn’t a pretty win, but it was a win.

The Mountaineers surged in the fourth quarter to fend off Arizona State, winning 53-43. This was WVU’s second win in a row and ninth home victory. WVU is now 16-4 on the season and 6-2 in conference. The Sun Devils are now 17-3 and 4-3 in the Big 12.

“I thought we were at our best in the fourth quarter, and it was needed,” head coach Mark Kellogg said. “We’ve been talking about that. Talking about just attitude and trying to thrive in those moments. Wish it didn’t come down to that. I wish it didn’t have to be our best quarter… We’ll take the win.”

Starting the fourth quarter, WVU trailed 37-34 and was on the backfoot most of the fourth quarter. Late into the quarter, the Mountaineers created some stops, tying the game at 41 apiece.

Then, with 2:45 minutes left and after some passing around, the ball found its way into the hands of guard Sydney Shaw in the corner. Shaw drilled it, handing the Mountaineers their first lead since the third quarter.

“I didn’t really think too much about it,” Shaw said. “I wasn’t thinking that this was the lead. I’m like I’m open, so shoot it.”

The Mountaineers’ defense clamped down and turned over Arizona State for the 20th time. From there, WVU closed it out with a basket from Kierra Wheeler.

Wheeler, after her basket, came over to the bench and energized her team to close it out.

“A lot of times in the fourth quarter, I think a lot of us are in our heads and just thinking about ourselves,” Wheeler said. “We can’t be about ourselves. We got to play for each other. And I think that’s how we finished the fourth quarter. Was just playing for each other. We knew that we let the last two slip. I was just telling my team, we can’t let this happen again. We’ve seen it too many times. We know exactly what to do, so let’s just go do it.”

The Mountaineers finished the game on a 14-2 run.

In the low-scoring contest, it was Wheeler and Shaw who stepped up late in the game. Wheeler led with 16 points and made a lot of effort plays, fighting through contact and rebounds. She also had six boards and some clutch free throws. Shaw had the big 3-pointer late and totaled 11 points, with three deep balls.

Despite picking up the win, it was one of the worst shooting games for WVU. It was kind of expected with both teams in the upper tier in the Big 12 in defense, with Arizona State having a slight edge. WVU finished shooting 34.6% from the floor and 23.1% from deep.

“Arizona State is tremendous defensively,” Kellogg said. “I’ve coached against coach [Molly] Miller. They’ve been really, really good on that end.”

WVU’s turnovers were also a big issue. It was a mixture of strong interior defense from the Sun Devils and careless mistakes. There was one point where WVU had an errant pass go into the backcourt, spreading visible frustration throughout the team. Arizona State scored 16 points off of WVU’s mistakes. Gia Cooke and Jordan Harrison combined for seven of those.

The game didn’t look like it’d finish under 50 points at the start of the game. It was a track meet early on. In the second quarter, the Mountaineers started to pull away. WVU’s 3-pointers were raining. The Mountaineers’ Sydney Woodley came off the bench and hit a 3-pointer. Shaw joined in, knocking down one, and Riley Makalusky also hit one off the bench. WVU went on a 10-2 run, and went up 23-13.

But then the Mountaineers got sloppy and turned the ball over six times in the span of the last six minutes, allowing Arizona State to punch back with an 11-2 run, making it 25-24 at the half. Forward McKinna Brackens had four points in the 9-0 run at the end of the half.

Arizona State jetted out in the third quarter after some poor shooting from the Mountaineers. Brackens took the lead herself, with seven points on the run, and gave Arizona State a 31-27 lead.

Brackens had 15 points for Arizona State, and guard Gabby Elliot added 15 of her own, which was most of the offensive production for the Sun Devils. Arizona State shot 36.4% from the floor and didn’t attempt a free throw all game. Elliot and Brackens didn’t have enough in them to pull off the upset in Hope Coliseum.

“I thought we did a much better job in the fourth quarter defensively,” Kellogg said. “That was a solid quarter for us.”

There’s not a lot of time to clean up the mistakes. WVU heads out west for back-to-back games in Utah, starting with BYU on Jan. 24 and then Utah on Jan. 27.

“We’ve had a gauntlet, and it won’t get any easier going forward,” Kellogg said. “That’s what it is right now. And you just play the next one, so any way you can find to win it, to go 1-0 on the day, is a win. We went 1-0 today, and that’s a win for us.”