TCU Women Fall To No. 11 OSU

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STILLWATER, Okla. – The TCU women’s basketball team whittled a 15-point halftime deficit down to five on two occasions but would eventually fall to No. 11 Oklahoma State by a score of 65-53 on Tuesday night at Gallagher-Iba Arena.

Sophomore guard Zahna Medley led the Horned Frogs (11-6, 2-3) with 17 points off an 8-of-17 effort from the field while snagging three steals in 37 minutes of action.

Freshman guard Jada Butts scored in double figures for the first time in her career with 12 points, going 3-of-4 from the field and 6-of-8 from the free-throw line to go with six rebounds in 20 minutes.

The Horned Frogs got off to another slow start, trailing 24-8 with under seven minutes left en route to a 37-22 halftime deficit.

TCU stormed out of the break, stopping Oklahoma State (15-1, 4-1) on its first nine possessions while scoring 10 points to cut the 15-point Cowgirl lead down to five.

After Medley cut the OSU lead down to 11 with a jumper, Butts grabbed an offensive rebound and converted the putback while fouled, where she completed a 3-point play to bring

TCU within eight.

Junior guard Natalie Ventress followed with a 3-pointer from the corner to cap the 10-0 run before Oklahoma State finally found the back of the net on a Tiffany Bias 3-pointer at the 14:17 mark.

Trailing by 10 with just under 10 minutes to play, Medley earned back-to-back layups to trim the Oklahoma State lead to 47-41 and Ventress would connect on another huge bucket from downtown at the 8:10 mark to once again bring the Frogs to within five points of the Cowgirls.

Oklahoma State’s Roshunda Johnson answered with a 3-pointer and struck again from long range just over a minute later as the Cowgirls jumped back out to a 57-44 advantage that TCU would be unable to recover from.

Ventress added eight points and six rebounds for the Frogs, while senior center Latricia Lovings led the squad with nine rebounds and two blocks.

TCU shot 41 percent (11-of-27) from the field in the final 20 minutes for a 35-percent (18-of-52) mark for the contest while limiting the Cowgirls to 36 percent (22-of-62).

OSU’s Bias posted 23 points and was 5-of-8 from 3-point range and 6-of-7 from the free-throw line.

The Frogs will return to Daniel-Meyer Coliseum where they’ve won nine of 10 games this season when they play host to Texas at 1 p.m., on Sunday.