MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Christal Caldwell made 5-of-5 from 3-point range and scored 23 points, paving the way to West Virginia’s 77-63 victory over Oklahoma in women’s basketball action Saturday.
Bria Holmes was one point shy of a career best with 21 points, and the Mountaineers (16-2, 5-1 Big 12) got a career-high 17 from Linda Stepney, who also handed out five assists.
Oklahoma came in averaging 80.9 points per game and was held to its second-lowest point total all season.
“They run a lot of stuff and a lot of stuff well,” said WVU coach Mike Carey, whose team could re-emerge in the Top 25 next week. “Overall, I’m very pleased; our girls fought hard.”
The Sooners (11-7, 2-3 Big 12) made it interesting in the second half thanks to 28 points from Aaryn Ellenberg, including five 3-pointers. But after Oklahoma erased a double-digit deficit to a tie game at 53-53 with 11:07 left, the Mountaineers responded with a 10-2 run, capped by a Holmes 3-pointer.
WVU never let up as Oklahoma missed 8-of-9 field-goal attempts and turned the ball over twice in the final four minutes.
WVU came out on a 16-3 run over the first five minutes. The Mountaineers held a double-figure lead until the final four minutes of the first half, when OU was able to go into halftime trailing 39-31.
“I thought we started out the game very well—needless to say we shot the ball very well at the beginning of the game,” Carey said.
The Mountaineers shot 61.9 percent in the opening half and 49 percent overall. WVU made 11-of-18 from 3-point range
WVU had the advantage from the free-throw line, converting 18-20, highlighted by Stepney’s 10-of-10 effort.
For the second-consecutive game, WVU matched its opponent on the boards, with each team pulling down 31 rebounds. Caldwell led WVU’s rebounding with six boards, while Morgan Hook led OU in rebounding with six.
The Mountaineers return to the court for a two-game road swing, starting Wednesday at Texas Tech and closing out the week with a matchup at Texas next Saturday.