TCU Women Close Regular Season With 58-48 Victory

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FORT WORTH, Texas – TCU kept to its winning ways Tuesday night with a 58-48 victory over Wyoming at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.

With the victory, the Horned Frogs won their fourth-straight game and closed out regular season play with a 16-13 overall record, including a 9-5 mark in the Mountain West. By defeating the Cowgirls, now 11-16 overall and 7-7 in league games, the Frogs clinched the No. 4 seed in next week’s Mountain West Tournament in Las Vegas. TCU and Wyoming will square off next Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. CT from the Thomas & Mack Center.

On the night, TCU shot 44.9 percent from the field, including 52.4 percent in the first half. The Frogs, who once again used their trademark defense to grind out a victory, stole the rock 10 times on the night, while holding the Cowgirls to only 33.3 percent from the field on 17-of-51 shooting. In all, TCU held Wyoming to only five made three’s on 20 attempts.

For a majority of the night, the bench did most of the damage for the Frogs as TCU recorded a 27-5 advantage off the bench. In all, eight different Frogs scored Tuesday as the Purple and White tallied 14 assists on a balance offensive attack.

Natalie Ventress led TCU for the 18th time this season with a team-high 10 points. The freshman also recorded five boards, four assists and two steals to fill out her stat line. Chelsea Prince and Briesha Wynn also made solid contributions Tuesday with nine points apiece, respectively, while Latricia Lovings closed regular-season play with an eight-point, four block effort, marking the seventh game this season in which the sophomore has posted at least four blocks in a single-game.

The Cowgirls were led on the night by Chaundra Sewell who scored 15 points on 7-for-12 from the field. The Frogs held freshman Kayla Woodward to only seven points on 2-of-8 shooting from the field. No other Wyoming player was able to score in double-figures Tuesday, even though the Pokes came into the

game with three players averaging double-digits in points per game.

Wyoming would score the first two points of the second half to pull within 33-27, but Wynn and Lovings would drop it in down low on consecutive trips to move the score back to a 10-point lead with a little over 17 minutes remaining in the second frame of play.

The two teams would battle back and fourth the next couple of possessions, but Wyoming would cut it to 37-32, until Meagan Henson drilled her second three of the game in the corner to push the Frogs back up by eight at the 14:41 mark. The Pokes would score the next four to make the scoreboard read 40-36, but Prince would have nothing of it as she drove the lane and glided to a bucket with 12:07 left on the clock.

With the score 42-36 in favor of the Purple and White, TCU got defensive again as Lovings came up with her fourth block of the game down low. On the following possession, Whitney Williams tickled the twine from deep and the Frogs jumped back on top by nine at 45-36.

A few moments later, Wyoming would cut it to 47-41, but Williams would once again dial it up and regain the offensive momentum for TCU, draining her second-straight three of the game at the 7:05 mark of the half.

Delisa Gross would knock one in from the corner to end a mini-run for the Cowgirls with a 4 minutes, 25 seconds remaining in the game and the Frogs were now up 52-43. Wynn would get into the scoring act the next trip down the court and the Frogs were in business at 54-48 with 3:31 left.

Following another forced turnover by the Frogs, Ventress found Wynn down low on a run-out to push TCU back up to 56-48 with only a couple of minutes remaining. Wynn then found Lovings down low and the Frogs would score their finals points of the night at 58-48 down the stretch.

The Frogs jumped out to a 4-1 lead after Prince tickled the twine from deep early on, but Wyoming would go on a 11-2 run to take a 12-6 advantage with a little over 10 minutes remaining in the opening frame. Prince would stop the run at the 9:54 mark of the half on an old fashion three-point play.

Following a Lovings block, Ventress scored eight out of the next 10 points, including a scoop shot at the 7:03 mark, to give TCU a 15-12 lead. In all, TCU blew the game open off a 23-2 run halfway through the period that made the score 27-12 with a little over four minutes to go. During that stretch, Wyoming went 1-for-8 from the field, while the Frogs forced the Cowgirls into four turnovers, while not allowing them to score for over seven minutes of play with their pesky defensive pressure.

With TCU up 27-17, Henson drilled in a deep three to light up the scoreboard at 30-17, but the Cowgirls would score eight out of the next nine points to pull within 31-25 at the 1:01 mark of the opening frame. Gross would give the Frogs a 33-25 lead at intermission, draining a mid-range jumper with only a few seconds remaining in the opening frame.

TCU will open the Mountain West Tournament on Wednesday, March 7 against Wyoming. Tip-off is set for 4:30 p.m. CT and will be shown live on The Mtn.

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