TCU’s Defensive Play Suffocates Texas Southern Saturday, 66-38

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FORT WORTH, Texas – TCU used an aggressive and strong defensive performance Saturday to defeat Texas Southern in its final game of 2011 at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum, 66-38.

The Horned Frogs, now 7-6 on the season, simply suffocated the Tigers (1-9), limiting them to only 14 made buckets the entire afternoon on 55 shot attempts for a grand total of 25.5 percent. By holding Texas Southern to only 25.5 percent from the field, TCU has now held seven different opponents to under 30 percent shooting and improved to 42-4 overall when doing so since 2008-09. The Purple and White’s defense also held TSU to 12.5 percent from behind the arc on 2-of-16 shooting, which marks the sixth time this season the Frogs have held the opposition to under 20 percent from three-point land.

When it was all said-and done, TCU, who only had eight turnovers the entire game, simply dominated from start to finish, outscoring Texas Southern in the paint, 32-14, while forcing the Tigers into 20 turnovers, which resulted in a 24-5 advantage in points off turnovers Saturday. The Purple and White’s bench did most of the damage as the Horned Frogs, who outrebounded Texas Southern Saturday, outscored TSU off the bench, 30-18.

On a day in which every active Horned Frog player scored, Natalie Ventress led the way for TCU, scoring 15 points on 7-of-16 from the field. The freshman has now scored in double-figures in two-straight contests and three out of the last four games. Fellow freshman Ashley Colbert was just as impressive on the final day of 2011, recording her first career-double-double with 11 points and a new career-high 12 boards.

Gianne Fleming was the lone TSU player in double-figures Saturday with 14 points on 5-of-16 shooting from the floor. Kayla West also wrapped up play with eight points despite only shooting 2-for-13 from the field.

 

The Frogs, who led from the opening tip, jumped all over the {scrollbox}dir=2011/tcu wbb vs tsu{/scrollbox}

Tigers early as Ventress scored eight of TCU’s first 10 points to open the game. Overall, the Horned Frogs, who opened the game on an 8-0 run, connected on their first three field goal attempts of the game and didn’t miss a single-attempt until almost 3 minutes into Saturday’s contest. The Frogs simply used a strong combination of suffocating defense and solid shooting in the first half, which resulted in the Purple and White shooting 40.5 percent from the field in the opening frame, to take control of the contest early and never look back.

With the Frogs up 12-6, Antoinette Thompson found a wide-open Briesha Wynn, who powered home a lay-up. A few moments later, Colbert connected on a tough three-point play and TCU was in business, now up 17-6 with a little over 13 minutes to go in the opening frame. The freshman recorded her second old-fashioned three-point play at the 11:55 mark and the Purple and White continued to jump all over Texas Southern at 22-9.

Delisa Gross pushed the score to 26-9 with 7:52 left when Thompson looped the ball over the defense and found the junior mid air for the easy layup. Ventress would end the half just like she began it, scoring three-straight, while Whitney Williams dialed it up from deep to bring the halftime score to 38-15.

Ventress opened the second half continuing her scoring barrage when Williams found her wide open in the corner to make the score 40-15. The next trip down the court, the freshman found a cutting Thompson, who promptly made the contested layup inside the paint.

Jazz Parker’s double-pump layup halfway through the second half gave TCU a comfortable 24-point lead at 55-31 with 5:42 left to go in the contest. The Frogs controlled the game the rest of the way with sophomore’s Elizabeth Nagel and Meagan Henson put the finishing touches on the day with some late field goals, helping TCU ring in the New Year with a 66-38 decision.

TCU will return to the DMC on Thursday, Jan. 5 against Texas-Pan American.

 

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