No. 16 West Virginia scored the final six points Friday against 20th-ranked Kansas State to earn a 73-69 victory and extend its stay at the Big 12 Championship in Kansas City.

The fourth-seeded Mountaineers trailed by two points with 1:53 remaining after the fifth-seeded Wildcats got a go-ahead second-chance basket from Kennedy Taylor.

Jordan Thomas countered with a tying bucket, though she missed the ensuing free throw that would’ve given WVU (24-6) the lead with 1:21 remaining.

JJ Quinerly then came up with a steal and drained a pull-up jumper with 45 seconds left to put the Mountaineers in front, and after Temira Poindexter missed a clean look at a go-ahead three-pointer from off the wing, WVU’s Sydney Shaw made two free throws with 11 seconds remaining to make it a two-possession game and provide the final margin.

Kansas State (26-7) made 13-of-15 first-quarter field-goal attempts to build a 33-23 lead. Were it not for the Mountaineers making 7-of-10 shots themselves, the deficit could’ve been far greater.

WVU’s deficit was 44-36 at halftime, before the Mountaineers used an 8-2 spurt over a span of 3:07 late in the third quarter to go in front 54-53 for their first lead since 5-4.

That stretch featured triples from Jordan Harrison and Shaw as well as Harrison’s second-chance bucket for the lead at the 1:10 mark of the frame.

Poindexter banked in a trey just before time expired in the third to give KSU a 58-56 lead through three.

Early in the fourth quarter, Harrison scored six points in 38 seconds on a trey and conventional three-point play, leaving the Mountaineers with a 64-60 lead with 7:02 remaining.

WVU then went more than 5 minutes without a field goal until Thomas’ tying bucket.

Quinerly led all players with 24 points. Harrison scored 19 and Shaw added 13 with three steals.

The result gives West Virginia its second NCAA Quad 1 win this season. The Mountaineers likely need at least one more victory, if not two and a conference championship, to have a realistic chance at being a top 16 team and hosting in the NCAA Tournament.

The Mountaineers await the winner of top seed and eighth-ranked TCU and No. 9 seed Colorado in Saturday’s semifinal at 4 p.m.

Taylor led KSU with 21 points and Poindexter scored 16 in defeat.