Morgantown, WV – The No. 24 West Virginia Mountaineers (2-0) forced 24 turnovers to improve to 2-0 after handling the George Washington Revolutionaries (1-1) Thursday night 78-66.

Senior forward Skylar Forbes led all scorers with 26 points, while Zahirah Walton produced 17 points and six rebounds, and redshirt freshman forward Divine Tumba was one rebound shy of a double double with 15 points and nine rebounds.

For the second consecutive game, Zahirah Walton started the game with the bucket at the rim and drew the foul after receiving the pass from Forbes for the early 3-0 edge.

George Washington responded with a 9-2 run led by the play junior guard Gabby Reynolds.

Walton ended the run with a drive to the paint and Forbes buried a three to reclaim the lead while the West Virginia defense held the Revolutionaries scoreless for nearly four minutes for a 12-9 advantage at the 3:26 mark of the first quarter.

George Washington junior guard Alicia Newell and senior forward Kamari Simms with a pair of threes to end the quarter buried threes for a 6-0 spurt to end the quarter for a 16-14 lead through the first 10 minutes of action.

West Virginia evened the game with a pair of free throws and Walton kept pace with a tough lay up at the rim until threes from sophomore guard Alexis Bordas and Forbes gave the Mountaineers a 24-18 advantage near the midway point of the second quarter.

The Mountaineers forced nine George Washington turnovers in the second quarter to keep their lead and built its largest lead of the of eight before taking a 37-31 lead into halftime.

Forbes led all scorers at the break with 13 points while Walton put in 11 points.

West Virginia held a five-point edge before constructing a 9-0 run, capped by a drive down the lane by Forbes and followed with a three out of the media timeout for a 14-point lead, 51-37.

Reynolds responded with back-to-back threes to pull the Revolutionaries back within eight, until an offensive putback from Tumba with 34 seconds remining in the quarter.

However, George Washington refused to be put away early as Anna Blair drove the right side of the paint to get the Revolutionaries within single digits 50-59, heading in the fourth quarters.

Senior guard Gia Cook delivered a pass to Tuma in the paint for the lay-in to open the fourth quarter and Walton went 1-2 from the free throw line followed by a drive to the basket to stretch the West Virginia lead to 12 in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter.

George Washington responded with tough drives to the paint, getting to the free throw line and sophomore forward N’na Konate capped a 6-0 run with a contested layup to close the deficit to six.

Forbes answered with a three and after Reynolds hit a jumper, it was Forbes with a response with a drive down the right side before stifling anymore GW momentum with a three with 2:20 remaining as the Mountaineers held off the Revolutionaries 78-66.