Despite West Virginia’s considerable height advantage over TCU, the Frogs were able win the battle on the boards and come away with another home victory.

The TCU women’s basketball team (16-12, 8-8 Big 12) beat West Virginia (16-12, 6-10 Big 12) Tuesday night by the final score of 73-63. This is the first time in program history TCU has defeated West Virginia.

The Mountaineers are known as one of the most physical teams in the Big 12, they are second in offensive rebounds and third in rebounding. But TCU bested West Virginia in rebounds 41-39. The Frogs dominated on the defensive glass as they outrebounded the Mountaineers 33-19.

Head coach Raegan Pebley said her team knew this was an important game and came in and played as they practiced so they could take the win.

“We got some big rebounds,” Pebley said. “There were so many loose balls that could have gone either way.”

TCU did have 17 turnovers, which gave West Virginia the chance to keep up with the Frogs’ shooting. But shooting 48 percent from the field proved to be enough to overpower the Mountaineers’ 32 percent.

The Frogs shut out West Virginia for over five minutes in the first half, holding them at twelve points. West Virginia came as close as two points away from tying the score the 13:27 mark but would not make another basket until sophomore Bria Holmes shot at 8:19 and brought the score to 26-14.

Junior Zahna Medley said the main focus of her team was getting rebounds and keeping up with the size of their opponent.

“We stayed poised to turn offensive rebounds into buckets,” Medley said.

Medley scored 19 points for TCU tonight with 3-5 at the 3-point line. Medley also completed four of the team’s rebounds.

“We were very physical with the team,” Medley said. “We plugged up the lanes to contain Bria Holmes.”

West Virginia’s Holmes shot 10-31 for West Virginia tonight, she was the game’s leading scorer with 24 points.

Senior Natalie Ventress scored 15 points for the Frogs, she went a perfect 4-4 from the 3-point range.

“We got a lot of shots in the shoot around,” Ventress said.

TCU for the second time this season, started with the lead at the beginning of the first half and held on for the game’s entirety to pull out the win.

West Virginia never trailed by more than 12 points and got as close as two points several times throughout the game.

West Virginia answered back in the start of the second half by scoring three baskets within the first three minutes without letting TCU respond. Medley finally put one in for TCU at the 17:15 mark in the second half bringing the Frogs’ lead to 42-33.

“I loved the way we moved the ball in the second half,” Pebley said. “We saw what we need to adjust and refocused on the boards.”

The Frogs fought in front of 1,351 attendees, proving they can continue to win at home. TCU’s improves to 13-3 at home and hopes to keep their home court advantage when they take on Kansas State on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Next week is the season’s last home game and the team’s senior night. Ventress said she is looking forward to taking on the Wildcats, who the Frogs previously lost to earlier this season.

“It’s a payback game,” Ventress said.