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MORGANTOWN -- You can't teach tall, and in the final analysis, that's the long and the short of No. 20 West Virginia's gallant but nonetheless futile women's basketball loss at No. 10 Kansas State on Wednesday night.
The Mountaineers went into Manhattan, Kansas, knowing that winning would be a tall order but scratched and clawed all night at the Wildcats and took a 6-point lead into the fourth quarter before K-State's 6-foot, 6-inch center Ayoka Lee took over.
That certainly was the long of it while the Mountaineers Jordan Harrison proved to be the short of it, salvaging one last chance for WVU with a coast-to-coast sprint that ended with a game-tying left-handed layup at the buzzer to force overtime.
But that proved to be too long for the Mountaineers as they came up short, losing, 73-64, after being outscored 15-6, in the 5-minute overtime period.
The effort by WVU was heroic and their coach, Mark Kellogg, knew it.
"Really proud of our group," he said after the game. "Thought that was a really good women's basketball game; two really good teams going toe-to-toe, back and forth … true back forth, like scores, runs.
"To battle back, to get to overtime was special. To our kids' credit, we made some plays to get it there."
Through the fourth quarter, it was All-American guard JJ Quinerly who kept WVU in it, scoring 12 of the Mountaineers 17 points. And then there was the 5-foot-6 Harrison, constructed far closer to the ground than Lee, who made the big play with that end-to-end dash in just 4 seconds to just beat the clock.
It's kind of been that way all year with Harrison, who has emerged as the do-everything point guard needed to run the show.
In WVU's taut 70-66 victory over Oklahoma in the Coliseum the last time out she did not have a good shooting day, going just 2-for-10, but whatever else was necessary she provided 9 assists with 6 rebounds and 4 steals.
This K-State game wasn't much different as she made just 4 of 12 from the field and was 0 for 5 from 3, but there was that biggest of big game tying shot and seven assists and five steals.
That has become her trademark with this edition of the Mountaineers after transferring in to stay with Kellogg, for whom she played at Stephen F. Austin before WVU snatched him up.
"Honestly, it's just what the team needs," the sophomore said after her do-everything performance against Oklahoma. "If it's scoring, I'll score. If I need to pass, I'll pass. If I need to rebound. I'll rebound. I just do whatever my team needs to win. That's what has helped me become a team player. I don't worry about stats."
"That's Jordan to a T," Kellogg said after that Oklahoma game. "She finds ways to impact the game when she's not scoring. If she's not the best point guard in the Big 12, she's one of them. She's at the top. I think that highly of her."
The size of a player isn't measured in height, but in performance, especially in the clutch, and what Harrison delivered with that last tying basket in regulation was as big as anything Lee did, although statistically and physically Lee towered over everyone on the floor.
Lee's performance was domineering despite fighting injuries, scoring 34 points in just 24 minutes while grabbing 12 rebounds and making 12 of 17 shots.
"Lee's a problem. She's an All-American for a reason and one of the best post players in the country," Kellogg said, before tossing in the obligatory coach barb over the officiating. "I didn't think we got a great whistle at all. I'm not going to go there, but that was a little disappointing for sure."
How thoroughly Lee and K-State dominated the overtime can be seen in one of those hidden stats that come about in a game.
The 15 overtime points by Kansas State were one fewer than the total number of points WVU's pressure defense allowed them in the first and third quarters … combined.
WVU returns home this Saturday at 2 p.m. for a third straight meeting with a Top 25 team, facing No. 24 Baylor in a game that highlights the 50th anniversary celebration of women's basketball at WVU.