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Holmes Leads WVU Comeback Against TCU
February 24, 2016 10:30 PM | Women's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Senior guard Bria Holmes tallied a season-high 30 points, as the West Virginia University women’s basketball team erased a 13-point third quarter deficit to engineer an 83-72 come-from-behind victory over TCU on Wednesday evening at the WVU Coliseum.
Both teams traded jabs in the first half with 11 ties and five lead changes, but WVU (21-8, 10-6 Big 12) held a slight 45-43 lead at the break. TCU (15-12, 7-9) made eight of its first nine shots to open the third quarter and built a 13-point lead with 3:20 remaining. West Virginia finished the final 13:20 of the game with a 32-8 run, as 20 of those 32 points came from Holmes.
Jessica Morton’s jumper with 5:50 left in the fourth quarter, trimmed the WVU deficit to 69-67. Arielle Roberson made a deflection that setup an opportunity for Holmes to tie the game. She missed the layup, but Teana Muldrow pulled down the rebound. Morton found Holmes wide open on the wing to nail the eventual game-winning shot at the 4:37 mark to give West Virginia a 70-69 lead.
Nearly a minute later, Morton’s jumper sparked a 9-1 Mountaineer run, as WVU collected its fourth consecutive home victory and snapped TCU’s three-game win streak. Wednesday’s triumph also gave WVU its 10th Big 12 victory of the season, second only to the Mountaineers’ 16 wins in 2014.
“We went down 13, and then we finally decided we were going to play some defense,” coach Mike Carey said. “I give Bria Holmes a lot of credit. She stepped up today and took over the game when we needed it the most, defensively and offensively. She made some big plays. I thought Teana (Muldrow) came in and played big for us. They’re a good scoring team, and we struggled defensively. Once we started playing defense, you could see that we held them to eight points. We started playing with energy. It was good to see. We had heart.”
Holmes finished with a season-high 30 points, while dishing out four assists, blocking three shots and collecting two steals. The 30-point contest was the fifth in her career, tying her for fourth all-time in Mountaineer history. Holmes, a Senior CLASS Award finalist, is now just 16 points away from becoming the only Mountaineer to score 500-plus points in three consecutive seasons.
Muldrow connected on 6-of-9 from the field, including 3-of-4 from behind the arc, to finish with 20 points. She narrowly missed a double-double with nine rebounds in 29 minutes of action. Roberson tallied nine points and six rebounds, while Morton posted eight points. Freshman Tynice Martin tallied a season-high five steals in the win.
Offensively, WVU shot 49.2 percent (31-of-63) from the field and 33.3 percent (7-of-21) from behind the arc. TCU made 50.8 percent (30-of-59) from the field and 50 percent ( 7-of-14) from behind the three-point line. The Mountaineers handily won the rebound column, 40-25, and dished out 20 assists for the fifth time this season. Zahna Medley finished with 23 points to lead the Horned Frogs.
The first quarter started off rapidly as both teams combined for 28 points in the first 5:30. A Veja Hamilton layup and an AJ Alix trey gave the Horned Frogs an early 11-6 edge. WVU fought back scoring nine of the next 13 points. Muldrow’s layup at the 4:09 mark tied the game at 15. Medley’s layup capped a 22-20 lead for TCU after the opening period.
It was another offensive frenzy in the second quarter for both teams. The Mountaineers outscored the Horned Frogs 25-21 in the quarter, but held just a 45-43 lead at halftime. Muldrow’s three put WVU up by four with 2:33 remaining. However, a Caitlin Diaz and Jada Butts layup tied the game for the 11th time at 1:21. Holmes’ layup on the next possession gave West Virginia a two-point edge.
In the first half, WVU shot 54.8 percent (17-of-31) from the field and 50.0 percent (5-of-10) from behind the three-point line. TCU connected on 51.4 percent (18-of-35) from the field and 50 percent (4-of-8) from behind the arc. WVU won the rebound edge 20-13, but TCU scored 13 points off eight Mountaineer turnovers. Muldrow led WVU with 16 points, while Medley paced TCU with 15.
TCU came out firing on all cylinders in the third quarter, making six of their first seven shots and using a 15-4 run to take a 58-49 lead with 5:29 remaining in the period. The Horned Frogs pushed their lead to 13 with 3:20 left. However, WVU climbed back with a nine-point run to cut the game to 60-64 at the end of three.
Alix connected on a trey to push TCU’s lead to seven to open the fourth quarter. Holmes’ trey at the 6:31 mark sparked the Mountaineer comeback. Morton hit a jumper to cut the game within two. With less than five minutes remaining, Holmes nailed another three-pointer to give the Mountaineers the go-ahead lead. She then answered with another layup 18 seconds later to put WVU up by three. Jordan Moore responded with a layup to trim the game to 72-71. However, Morton hit a jumper to push the edge back to e three as WVU closed the game on a 9-1 run to seal the Mountaineers’ 10th league victory.
West Virginia concludes the home schedule with No. 22 Oklahoma State on Saturday, Feb. 27, in a 7 p.m. tilt at the WVU Coliseum. The team will honor its seniors before the game. Fans can purchase a Family Day package for $25, which includes four tickets, four hot dogs, four sodas and a box of popcorn. All packages must be purchased in advance and before 5 p.m. on Friday. To order the package, visit WVUGAME.com or call 1-800-WVU GAME.
NOTES: West Virginia halted TCU’s three-game win streak tonight … with the win over the Horned Frogs, West Virginia tallied its second-most victories in the Big 12 since joining the league in 2013 … the Mountaineers improved to 10-1 all-time over the Horned Frogs and are now 4-0 in Morgantown … the win over the Horned Frogs also gave the Mountaineers their fourth regular-season series sweep of the year … WVU is 21-2 when leading at halftime … WVU is 20-3 when scoring 60+ points … the Mountaineers are 19-1 when outrebounding its foe … senior Arielle Roberson has grabbed five or more rebounds in each of the last 20 games … with 32 points coming off the bench tonight, WVU has recorded 30+ points from the bench in 16 contests this season … WVU is 21-6 this season when outscoring the opponent’s bench … with 20 assists on the night, WVU has distributed double-figure assists in 23 of 29 games this season and has registered 20 or more assists in five contests … freshman Tynice Martin also collected a career-high five steals on the night … with seven blocks on the night, the Mountaineers have recorded five or more blocks in 28 of 29 games played this season … senior Bria Holmes scored a season-high 30 points tonight … Holmes needs just 16 more points to reach the 500-point plateau in a season for the third time in her career … Holmes would become the only WVU women’s basketball player to score 500 or more points in three different seasons … Holmes needs 104 more points to reach the 2,000-point club … Holmes has produced 94 games scoring in double figures, which is third all-time … sophomore Teana Muldrow’s 20 points on the night was one point short of her season-high … the last time two players scored 20 or more points in a game was against Buffalo on March 19, 2015 … Holmes and Muldrow collected 20 points each against the Bulls … of note, prior to the game coach Mike Carey was presented a framed jersey tonight by former Director of Athletics Ed Pastilong for his 600th career wins.
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