No. 25 WVU Battles, Falls Short at No. 3 Texas
January 07, 2015 07:01 PM | General
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AUSTIN, Texas – A valiant effort by the No. 25-ranked West Virginia University women’s basketball team to upend unbeaten No. 3 Texas fell short in a 61-55 loss at the Erwin Center on Wednesday evening.
The Mountaineers (10-4, 0-2 Big 12) trailed by 14 points with seven minutes remaining in the half and fought back to make it just six at the half. With 7:09 remaining in the game, junior guard Bria Holmes hit a jumper to make it a four-point contest. However, back-to-back layups stretched the Longhorn advantage (13-0, 2-0 Big 12) back to eight - a lead that they would never relinquish.
“I thought both teams played extremely hard,” said coach Mike Carey. “Both teams battled. I told the team after the game, that even after 10 wins, we’ve played with more emotion than we have played with all year. That was good to see.”
With her bucket at the 14:50 mark in the second half, Holmes became the 31st WVU player to reach 1,000 career points. Holmes finished with a game-high 22 points.
“She’s a great player,” noted Carey. “We knew she was going to be a 1,000/2,000-point scorer coming in here because that’s the type of player she was coming out of high school. I am proud of her. She’ll continue to work hard and continue to get better.”
Averee Fields found her 14th consecutive game in double figures, notching 12 points and shooting 60 percent (6-of-10) from the field. Freshman Teana Muldrow tallied 10 points to round out double-figure scorers.
WVU finished the game shooting 34.5 percent (20-of-58) from the field, as Texas finished at 46.2 percent (24-of-52). The Mountaineers cut a sizeable UT rebound advantage to 39-33 in the final box. WVU had 13 turnovers, forcing 17 Longhorn miscues. Nneka Enemkpali inked a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds for Texas.
Holmes’ layup and two made free throws cut WVU’s deficit to 5-4 midway through the first half. Texas capitalized on a four-minute Mountaineer scoring drought and used a 10-0 run to take a sizeable lead. Bre McDonald hit a deep jumper to snap the skid at 11:26.
A mid-range jumper by Holmes cut Texas’ edge to seven. But the Longhorns used another seven-point run to take a 24-10 lead, their largest in the game, under eight minutes.
West Virginia used its own seven-point run to narrow UT’s lead to single figures. However, Crystal Leary’s free throws closed out the first half with a 32-26 Texas lead. She finished the game with six points, five rebounds and two steals.
West Virginia shot 33.3 percent (8-of-24) from the field in the first half compared to Texas’ 44.8 percent (13-of-29). UT dominated the rebound column, 23-to-9, in the opening frame. Holmes led all scorers at the break with eight points, while Jones and Davenport paced the Longhorns with six each.
Despite Texas going on an early run, the Mountaineers maintained to keep the game close. At 14:50, Holmes used a layup off the glass to record her 1,000th career-point and become the 31st Mountaineer to reach that milestone.
Holmes found a triple as time expired to put the Mountaineers within five with nine minutes remaining. With under eight minutes remaining, WVU found a layup from Holmes to cut the game to four points.
However, back-to-back buckets stretched Texas’ lead back to eight and kept the Longhorns ahead for good. WVU did cut the game to five with 3:35 remaining, but UT used three foul shots and a layup to seal the win.
No. 25-ranked WVU hosts No. 3 Baylor in a 3 p.m. ET matchup on Saturday at the WVU Coliseum. That contest will air regionally on ROOT SPORTS Pittsburgh. Saturday is also Coca-Cola Family Day and Gold Rush presented by Coke Zero. For more information, visit WVUsports.com.
NOTES: Linda Stepney made her 107th career start on Wednesday, moving into sole possession of ninth all-time at WVU … At the 14:50 mark in the second half, Bria Holmes became the 31st Mountaineer to reach the 1,000-point milestone … WVU is now 4-3 all-time against Texas and 0-3 in Austin … Averee Fields has reached double-figures in 14 games … In all four of West Virginia’s losses, the Mountaineers have shot less than 40 percent.
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