By Chris Coombs
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (August 23, 2023) – West Virginia University women’s basketball head coach Mark Kellogg has announced the addition of Ainhoa Holzer to a grant-in-aid for the 2023-24 academic year.
“Ainhoa is a skilled point guard that has nice vision, a high IQ and can score at different levels,” Kellogg said. “We needed to add more ball handling and depth to the roster.
“She has valuable international experience playing with the Switzerland National Team and the Swiss Basketball League. We are excited to welcome Ainhoa to Almost Heaven and know that our fans will enjoy watching her compete.”
The 5-foot-9 guard comes to Morgantown with four years of eligibility after redshirting last season at Purdue.
Holzer holds extensive European experience at the junior and national levels in Switzerland. The native of Martingy, Switzerland was named the 2022 Swiss Basketball League (SBL) Sixth Woman of the Year and Most Improved Player. She appeared in 22 games for the BBC Troistorrents, averaging 6.7 points and 2.5 assists per game.
She was named to the Swiss National Team in 2021-22 ahead of Women’s EuroBasket 2023 qualifiers.
While representing Switzerland at the U16 European Championships in 2018, she competed in eight games with 3.8 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.0 steals per game.
Holzer was later called up for the U18 European Championships in 2019 and the U20 Swiss National Team in 2021 for the European Challengers. She then played the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons for BBC Les Portes du Soleil Troistorrents in the SBL. She averaged 5.1 points, 2.4 assists per game during her prep career in the SBL.
During her 2021-22 season, she guided her team to a third-place finish in the SBL regular season and an appearance in the Patrick Bauman Cup. For her efforts, she was named the 2021 Rising Star of the Year.
She Played in 24 games for Troistorrents in 2020-21 with 4.8 points, 2.5 assists and 1.5 rebounds per game helping the team reach the semifinals of the league’s championship.
Holzer also played at Christ the King in Middle Village, Queens, New York, in 2019 where she was named an All-Star by The Tablet, CHSAA Rookie of the Year, NYC Rookie First Team and a Second Team CHSAA AA All-Star after averaging 12 points and seven assists per game. She led the Royals to a 26-4 record, the GCHSAA NY State Championship, the New York City Championship, the Catholic AAA League title and the New York Federation AA championship.
