MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Bria Holmes poured in a season-high 30 points, including 20 over the last 12:29 when West Virginia erased a 13-point deficit to overcome TCU 83-72 in women’s basketball Wednesday at the WVU Coliseum.
Teana Muldrow added 20 points and nine rebounds for West Virginia (21-8, 10-6 Big 12), which trailed 64-51 late in the third quarter after the Frogs went on a 17-4 run by making eight of their first nine shots in the third quarter.
The Mountaineers closed the game on a 32-8 run.
“We went down 13, and then we finally decided we were going to play some defense,” WVU 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.
“Once we started playing defense, you could see that we held them to eight points (over the final 13 minutes). We started playing with energy. It was good to see. We had heart.”
Holmes finished 11-of-22 from floor, dished out four assists, blocked three shots and made two steals. Her 3-pointer off an offensive rebound by Muldrow put West Virginia ahead 70-69 with 4:37 left.
TCU (15-12, 7-9), which had a three-game winning streak snapped, got 23 points and seven assists from Zahna Medley.
“We don’t have a lot of time to hang our heads about this, but it was disappointing,” said TCU coach Raegan Pebley. “There were some controllables that we didn’t take care of, and then there were some uncontrollables that happen in every game. (Holmes) is a great player. She’s able to play against us just like she does against everybody else.”
Freshman Tynice Martin made a season-high five steals for West Virginia, which won the rebounding 40-25 and owned a 22-6 edge in free-throw attempts.
Jessica Morton scored all eight of her points in the fourth quarter as the Mountaineers enjoyed a 32-14 advantage in bench scoring.
WVU shot 49.2 percent from the field and 7-of-21 on 3s. TCU made 50.8 percent from the field and 7-of-14 from behind the 3-point line.
West Virginia concludes the home schedule against No. 22 Oklahoma State on Saturday at 7 p.m.