No. 20 Oklahoma Tops TCU In Women’s Hoops
{fshare id=3479}
NORMAN, Okla. – TCU dropped a 74-53 decision Wednesday night to No. 20 Oklahoma at the Lloyd Noble Center.
It was a tale of two halves for the Horned Frogs Wednesday night as TCU, who only trailed by three at intermission and opened the game on an 11-0 run, couldn’t overcome some hot shooting by Oklahoma in the second half. In all, OU shot a blistering 62.5 percent in the second period, including 66.7 from deep.
Zahna Medley led the Horned Frogs on the offensive end of the court with 18 points. Fellow freshman Veja Hamilton followed with 10 points, while sophomore Natalie Ventress added nine.
Sharane Campbell did most of the damage for Oklahoma, scoring a game-high 23 points. Nicole Griffin was the only other Sooner in double-figures with 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
With the loss, TCU fell to 7-12 overall and 0-8 in conference play, while the Sooners improved to 16-4 overall and 6-2 in league play.
Oklahoma took a 34-28 lead to open the second half, but Latricia Lovings, who moved into No. 2 all-time in blocked shots for a career Wednesday, was able to find Hamilton for a
mid-range jumper to pull the Frogs within four at the 18:23 mark of the second half. The Sooners would push their lead to 54-31 off a 20-3 run, which was spearheaded by some hot shooting from deep by Campbell who hit four trey balls during the stretch.
Medley ended the OU run with a little over 11 minutes remaining in the second frame of play, draining a three from the top of the key. The Frogs continued to cut into the Oklahoma lead a few moments later as Donielle Breaux drove the lane and found Ashley Colbert down low for the bucket. TCU continued to chip away at the advantage at the 9:34 mark of the second half as Breaux cashed in on a three-ball to make the scoreboard read 54-39.
The Frogs tried one last time to make a late push in the contest as both Lovings and Ventress found the bottom of the net down the stretch, but TCU wasn’t able to complete the comeback.
The Frogs started out of the gates on fire as Hamilton stole the rock on the opening possession and found Cole for a long trey ball to take an early 3-0 lead. On the very next possession, Hamilton spun past her defender and connected from inside the lane to increase the Frog advantage.
Medley pushed the Purple and White lead to 11-0, scoring five-straight, including a beautiful three from the left side of the court at the 16:01 mark of the opening frame. Overall, TCU’s smothering defense didn’t allow Oklahoma to score until 15:35 showed on the clock in the first half. Medley went back to work a few moments later, draining a deep jumper to give the Purple and White a 13-5 lead.
The Sooners jumped back into the ballgame at 13-9, but the Springfield, Ill., native calmed the storm, connecting on a mid-range jumper with a little over 10 minutes remaining the first half. In all, the freshman hit 13-straight points for TCU before Hamilton cashed in on back-to-back jumpers to increase the Frog lead to 22-16 at the 6:51 mark of the opening frame.
The two teams would go back and fourth the next couple of possessions, but Oklahoma battled back to take at 30-22 lead off a 14-0 run. Ventress ended the Sooner run, tickling the twine from deep down the stretch to pull the Frogs within 30-25. A late rebound and put-back by Lovings brought the halftime score to 30-27 in slight favor of Oklahoma.
TCU returns home to face Texas Saturday at 11:30 a.m. CT. The game will show live on Fox Sports Net.
