TCU Women Knock Off Kansas
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FORT WORTH, Texas – The TCU women’s basketball team used a physical defensive effort to key a 73-67 victory over Kansas on Tuesday evening at the University Recreation Center.
The Horned Frogs improved to 15-10 overall and evened their Big 12 record to 7-7, while the Jayhawks dropped to 13-14 on the season and 4-10 in league play.
Junior guard Zahna Medley led three Horned Frogs in double figures with 19 points off a 9-of-17 effort from the field. Medley also handed out a team-best five assists to go with four rebounds.
Fellow junior Veja Hamilton just missed her first double-double of the season with 18 points and a team-best nine boards in 36 minutes of action. Hamilton, who has scored in double figures in 14 of the last 15 contests, was 7-of-14 from the field and 4-of-6 from the free-throw line.
Senior guard Natalie Ventress hit double digits for the sixth-straight game with 14 points, including four late free-throws to seal the win.
Senior forward Chelsea Prince came up big on the defensive end, snagging five steals to go with seven rebounds and four assists in 38 minutes. The Fort Worth native is just 13 steals shy of setting a new TCU single-season record.
TCU appeared headed for another slow start early on, trailing 10-2 following six turnovers in the opening six minutes.
The Horned Frogs used a stifling defensive effort to key a huge
run however, outscoring the Jayhawks 17-2 over the next seven minutes to take a 19-12 lead.
Medley gave TCU its first double-digit lead (31-21) with 2:58 remaining when she spun around her defender in a 1-on-1 matchup in the paint for a reverse layup. Hamilton would follow with back-to-back jumpers as the Frogs took a 36-21 lead into the break.
TCU opened the second half in similar fashion, leading by as many as 18 points (46-28) when senior guard Donielle Breaux sunk a baseline floater with 14:55 remaining.
Kansas answered with a 10-2 run to trim the TCU deficit to 48-38 at the 12:38 mark, but Prince answered with a steal that led to a Hamilton fastbreak layup and a floater to push the lead back to 14 points.
The Jayhawks weren’t done however, as senior forward Chelsea Gardner caught fire, cashing in two of her 16 second-half points on a jumper to trim the lead to six points with 4:55 remaining.
With Kansas lingering five points behind, Medley connected on her first 3-pointer of the night to push the Frogs back to a 67-59 lead with 2:41 remaining.
The Jayhawks would claw back to within two points when Medley dribbled around the paint on another 1-on-1 matchup before spinning and sinking a floater to put TCU up 69-65 with 34.8 seconds left.
TCU edged Kansas in the rebounding battle by a 31-30 margin and tallied 27 points off 20 Kansas turnovers.
The Frogs return to action when they travel to face Baylor at 7 p.m., on Saturday in Waco.
