TCU Women Win Exhibition Vs Texas Wesleyan
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FORT WORTH, Texas – The era under first-year TCU women’s basketball coach Raegan Pebley started off on a winning note with an 86-40 exhibition victory over NAIA Texas Wesleyan University Sunday afternoon at the University Recreation Center.
Junior guard Zahna Medley led the Horned Frogs with 15 points and five assists, while senior guard Natalie Ventress and junior guard Alexia Standish each added 14 points for TCU, which shot 48 percent from the field for the game.
“We just needed to go and compete against someone else and put the uniforms on. It gives us an opportunity to see different line-ups, to play everybody and see how different players respond to the lights being on,” said Pebley, who was hired April 1.
In the first half, the Frogs shot 44 percent from the floor, including 46 percent from the 3-point line.
Thirteen Frogs saw action in the first half, and Ventress and Medley paced TCU with 10 points each, while Carol Willie added seven of her nine points in the opening 20 minutes.
Defensively, the Frogs held the Rams to just 12 percent shooting from
the field in the first half while outrebounding the Rams 27-18 in building the 47-14 lead at the break. TCU also forced 16 TWU turnovers and recorded seven steals.
TCU held the Rams scoreless for nearly eight minutes to open the contest while building a 17-point lead. Medley and Ventress drilled back-to-back 3-pointers early in the game to up the lead to 8-0. Alexia Standish added one of the Frogs’ five first-half 3-pointers with 15:05 left to increase the lead to 14-0.
TWU tallied just three field goals in the opening half and went 8-of-17 from the charity stripe.
“There are good things that we saw but there are also things that we’re going to focus on improving — taking care of the ball and making sure we are defending the ball without fouling,” Pebley said. “Those are going to be two impact things we’ve got to focus on this week in practice.”
For the game, TCU connected on 44 percent of its 3-point attempts, while the Rams hit just 1-of-7 from behind the arc. TWU shot just 25 percent from the field for the game.
The Frogs won the rebound battle, 41-34, and tallied 17 steals and forced 34 TWU turnovers.
Senior forward Chelsea Prince tallied nine points while wreacking havoc on defense with six steals in 18 minutes of action.
Senior guard Donielle Breaux led the Frogs with eight rebounds in just 15 minutes, while freshman forward Sydney Coleman finished with six points and five boards.
Onyesonam Nolisa led the Rams with 10 points and nine rebounds.
The Frogs open the regular season at 7 p.m., on Friday when they host Houston Baptist at the University Recreation Center.
