Thompson Leads TCU To Victory With Clutch Free Throws
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ORLANDO, Fla. – Senior Antoinette Thompson made back-to-back free throws with 4 seconds left in the game to give TCU a 48-47 last second victory over Fordham on the final day of the UCF Thanksgiving Classic.
In a game that saw the Horned Frogs, who are now 2-4 on the season, secure a 19-point lead midway through the second half, the Rams (3-2) rallied down the stretch off of a 25-3 run to regain the lead at 47-46 on two-straight free throws by Arielle Collins with 17 seconds left.
With 7 seconds remaining in a gut wrenching game, junior Whitney Williams drove to the hole and put up a last second running layup that proceeded to bounce off the rim, all but ending TCU’s hopes for a victory Saturday afternoon. As she did all day Saturday, Thompson was in the right place at the right time, darting into the lane for a rebound and foul call, thus sending the senior to the line for two shots and the victory. The Fort Worth native proceeded to knock down both free throws to secure TCU’s second win of the season.
Thompson led the Frogs on the day with a team-high 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting, including 3-of-3 from the line. Latricia Lovings was the lone other Frog in double-figures with a career-high 10 points on 5-of-8 from the field. Both Thompson and Lovings’ also posted seven boards apiece, respectively.
Fresh off a 29 point outing against Central Florida on Friday, Abigail Corning was held in check for the majority of the day, only managing 13 points on 3-of-10 shooting, including 3-of-8 from the behind the line. Christina Gaskin checked in with 10 points Saturday.
The pesky Horned Frogs, who shot 43.3 percent from the floor in the first half, simply controlled Fordham during the opening session of play, limiting the Rams to only 14 first half points on 17.9 percent from the field. The Frogs were simply stifling on the defensive end of the court as they held Fordham, who went 5-of-28 from the field during the half, without a basket for the entire first 6 minutes of play Saturday. The Rams didn’t even reach double-digits in points for the half until the 3:54 mark of the opening half.
Thompson pushed the Frog lead to 33-18 at the 13:09 on a tough three-point play inside the lane. A few moments later, the Frogs jumped the margin back to 14 off a Meagan Henson triple at the 10:25 mark. Williams’ continued the Horned Frogs hot shooting from deep, lighting it up to give TCU a 17-point lead.
Lovings would score another bucket halfway through the game and increase the
Frog lead to a comfortable 19-point advantage, but Hartford would crawl back into the game on a 25-3 run to take a one-point lead at 47-46 down the stretch.
With ice water in her veins, Thompson knocked down back-to-back free throws to give TCU the 48-47 heart stopping victory Saturday.
The Horned Frogs jumped out to an early 10-0 lead thanks in large part because of some easy buckets off some nifty ball movement down low. In all, TCU posted an 18-6 advantage in points in the paint during the first half, which led to a 26-16 advantage for the game.
The Frogs moved the score to 16-3 at the 12-minute mark when Briesha Wynn stripped a Fordham player and drove coast-to-coast for the easy bucket. The sophomore followed it up with a nice up-and-under to increase TCU’s comfortable lead. A few moments later, Logan Mittie spotted Lovings in the paint to push the Frog lead to 18-5 at the 7:44 mark of the first half.
Mittie then dropped a triple at the 5-minute mark to improve the score to 21-7 and the Frogs were in business. After a couple of scoreless trips down the court, Williams made a beautiful dish to Ashley Colbert down low who promptly powered it home down the stretch. Following a put-back by Thompson in the late stages of the first half, Williams found a wide-open Natalie Ventress who tickled the twine to push the score to 28-12 in the closing seconds. The Frogs took a 28-14 lead into halftime.
TCU will return to action on Thursday, Dec. 1 at Houston. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. CT.
