West Virginia’s Jordan Harrison (10) handles the ball as Kentucky’s Clara Strack (13) defends during an NCAA Tournament game Monday in Morgantown. (Photo by David Pennock)

MORGANTOWN — West Virginia women’s basketball seniors really shone in the second round of the NCAA tournament, even if the Mountaineers lost to Kentucky, 74-73. Sydney Shaw kept WVU in the game late, making multiple 3-pointers, and had 23 points. Jordan Harrison, who carried the team through the Big 12 tournament, had 11 points of her own and recorded four steals. Kierra Wheeler, who battled against Clara Strack, had 16 and shot 8-for-11 from the floor.

“I’m so thankful for the seniors,” head coach Mark Kellogg said. “Whether they gave me one, two, three years, I love them all. I think our program is in a great spot, but that’s not really what this one is about.”

Once the clock hit zero, and the Mountaineers lost by a point, the season ended, which also marked the end of the seniors’ college basketball careers. Three of five starters aren’t returning, and some major role players aren’t coming back either.

Next year’s team won’t have Harrison to lead the offense or Shaw to knock down some clutch 3-pointers.

Multiple staples of the historic season won’t be in the gold and blue next year.

Kellogg can’t picture a world where he’s not coaching Harrison, who came over with him from Stephen F. Austin State, and the rest of the seniors.

“It’s hard to do, to be honest,” Kellogg said. “I know there’s finality. I don’t know if it still quite feels like there’s finality to it. Because I’m going to want to wake up tomorrow and do what I’ve always been doing for the last six months, and I won’t have that. So that’s when it will probably hit a little bit more.”

Now that the season is over, how does Kellogg and WVU go about getting back to the NCAA tournament and potentially hosting?

“There’s a lot of coaches in that situation,” Kellogg said. “Once you get beat, that does come next for us. I’m trying to at least tonight maybe not have to process that, but I’ll wake up tomorrow and have to process that.”

It’s easier to bring in transfers and recruits after a historic season and the program trending up. WVU won the Big 12 conference and then hosted the NCAA tournament. The environment inside the Coliseum was electric, and might’ve made football recruits pick the Mountaineers based on the atmosphere alone.

Even after losing, the two-game stretch and the fan turnout are big recruiting factors.

“We’re better today than we were a year ago at this time or two years ago, I think,” Kellogg said. “Obviously, we won a title. We played at home. We haven’t done that in, obviously, quite some time. Hopefully, from a recruiting standpoint, that should be a selling point, like we’re playing in front of 13,000 people plus the last couple nights. I think there would be a lot of kids that want to come join us.”

WVU has already signed a big-time freshman for next year’s class. Canadian star Chanté Murray signed her letter of intent after decommitting from Rutgers. Murray is a 6-foot-1 small forward and is ranked as the 90th overall prospect, according to SportsCenter NEXT 100.

“She is a versatile player on both ends of the court that will fit nicely into our system,” Kellogg said in a release. “Defensively, she will impact the game and be disruptive with her length and athleticism. Offensively, she can get to the rim off the dribble, score at mid-range and shoot the three. Her international experience with the Canadian National Team will help in her transition to Big 12 basketball.”

More will come, but Kellogg will definitely have to do some work adding talent in the transfer portal. The only returners are Gia Cooke and Carter McCray. There are some other players with more eligibility that had roles, like Riley Makalusky and Jordan Thomas, who are back.

Kellogg is not going to use recency bias to address the length and size problem. Kentucky’s two big forwards dominated in the win. It’s still early, but Kellogg is going to look for players that fit the system and can make an immediate impact.

“If there’s a Jordan Harrison clone out there, I would be happy to take that phone call when the time is right, and a few other players, some Sydney Shaws and (Kierras),” Kellogg said. “Yeah, if we can continue to find height, that’s great, but if height doesn’t produce, then I’m not overly interested in that either. So it’s just finding the right kids that fit that want to be here, that like what we’re doing, the direction the program is going, understand how special this state is and how you get treated here.”

Whoever Kellogg brings in when the portal opens will have to know that there’s a new standard in Morgantown for women’s basketball. The Mountaineers should be competing for the Big 12 Tournament Championship every year, hosting the NCAA tournament and making it to at least the second round.

It’ll be essential for WVU and Kellogg to capitalize on this past weekend and the success this season to maintain the long-term success of the program.

“I think we’re in a great spot, but yeah, I don’t want this to be it,” Kellogg said. “I want to continue to grow it… I want to be a program that hosts year after year, but that takes a lot of work and commitment, and those types of things from a lot of people. But we’re fortunate, and I think we showed this weekend how special this place is and how rewarded you’ll feel if you do the right things and buy in and have a great program.”