Jan. 29—MORGANTOWN — At one time in their lives, Jordan Harrison and Darianna Littlepage-Buggs were nearly inseparable. Basketball made sure of that as the duo grew up in Oklahoma City, Okla.
“We’ve known each other since elementary school, ” Harrison said. “We grew up playing on the same AAU team, the same middle school team and the same high school team. We have a really tight relationship.”
Advertisement
Basketball is also what eventually made them go their separate ways, but not before Harrison, Littlepage-Buggs and Micah Gray formed a combination that put Oklahoma City on the recruiting map.
Littlepage-Buggs was the inside force, the five-star recruit everyone wanted and a McDonald’s All-American. Harrison was the lightning-quick point guard and Gray was the shooter.
“Their high school team was really good, ” WVU head coach Mark Kellogg said. “They were coached by Jim (Perinovic), who is a phenomenal high school basketball coach. Micah Gray was on that team, too, who is now at Oklahoma State. So, you’re talking about three all-league type Power Four kids all on the same high school team. That doesn’t happen very often.”
Littlepage-Buggs found a college home at Baylor, where she’s started 101 games so far over her career with the Bears. Harrison signed with Stephen F. Austin, where Kellogg was the head coach. She transferred to WVU when Kellogg was hired by the Mountaineers in 2023.
Advertisement
Gray signed at Texas Southern, before transferring to Seton Hall. The past two seasons, Gray has been at Oklahoma State, where she’s nailed 146 3-pointers for the Cowgirls.
At Classen SAS, the trio led the Comets to Oklahoma’s Class AAAA state championship in 2022, while also defeating five nationally ranked teams along the way. Classen SAS finished No. 6 in ESPN’s national rankings.
“We just kind of played, ” Harrison said. “I don’t think we really realized until we got to college that, OK, we were actually a good little group. We were all just best friends.”
Part of that group will reunite at 1 p.m. Sunday, when 14th-ranked Baylor (19-3, 8-1 Big 12) travels to No. 22 WVU (17-5, 7-3) in a game the Mountaineers would love to have to stake their claim as one of the top teams in the Big 12.
Advertisement
The Bears have thoughts otherwise. Baylor is 3-0 against WVU since Kellogg took over the program. Littlepage-Buggs has averaged 11.3 points and 10.7 rebounds in those three games.
“When we’re both on the court, both of us know it’s business, ” Harrison said. “We play two different positions, so it’s not like we’re always next to each other. I do know if I drive to the basket, I’m going to have to go with a pump fake or something. I kind of know how she plays.”
While recruiting Harrison, Kellogg said he saw plenty of Littlepage-Buggs, too.
“Yeah, I’ve seen a lot of Buggs. More than I would like now, ” he joked. “She’s a great kid from a great family. She’s just evolved. You can tell now as a senior how comfortable she is. She’s a phenomenal rebounder and can pass the ball. Defensively, she could probably guard all five positions.”
Advertisement
In what was a magical night, no one could seemingly guard Harrison on Jan. 14, 2022. That’s the night Classen SAS played their city rivals, Northwest Classen, and coach Perinovic gave his players just one piece of direction.
“Coach told me to take every shot, so that’s what I did, ” Harrison said.
No kidding. Harrison played 26 minutes of a 32-minute game and got up an amazing 54 shots. She nailed 14 3-pointers that night on her way to a state-record 74 points. She also recorded 12 steals in the game.
“Any player would want their coach to say that, so I was like all right, ” Harrison said. “When I made my third or fourth three, I was feeling pretty hot.”
Advertisement
News of Harrison’s record eventually made its way to Kellogg.
“We found out that night what had happened, ” Kellogg said. “We couldn’t quite figure out how it happened, so I wanted all the details on it. How many threes did she hit ? Did she ever pass the ball ? That was a special night for her.”
The trio hasn’t disappointed in college, either. Littlepage-Buggs and Harrison were both named to the all-Big 12 preseason team to begin this season. Littlepage-Buggs has 1, 324 points and 1, 031 career rebounds, while Gray has scored 1, 624 points and connected on 271 career 3-pointers. Harrison enters Sunday’s game with 1, 574 points, 600 assists and 294 steals for her career.
“They were well coached and they all just grew up together, ” Kellogg said. “Jordan and Michah Gray lived just a couple of houses apart from each other. Buggs was right there pretty close, too. You’re talking about a pretty close group.”
