TCU Women Lose In Big 12 Tourny
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DALLAS, Texas – Freshman Zahna Medley scored a game-high 21 points Friday night, but TCU fell to Kansas in the first round of the 2013 Phillips 66 Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship at the American Airlines Center, 83-61.
Medley, who posted her sixth 20-point game of the season Friday, closed out her first year in a Horned Frog uniform with 21 points on 7-of-18 from the field. Fellow freshman Veja Hamilton was the only other Frog in double-figures with 14 points on 5-of-13 from the floor. It was the second-straight game in which Hamilton scored in double-figures for the Purple and White.
With the loss, TCU ended the season at 9-21 overall, while Kansas improved to 18-12 on the year and will face No. 2 seeded Iowa State Saturday.
On the tough night, a young Frog squad cut it to 13 off a 9-2 run with 9:16 left to go in the contest and appeared to be well on their way to continuing to chip away at the Kansas lead, but couldn’t rally down the stretch.
Hamilton opened the second half, ripping the net from mid-range to bring the Frogs closer at 43-32. KU came
back though with a three-point play on the other end before Hamilton hit her second jumper of the half three minutes into the period.
With the scoreboard reading 49-34, Medley connected on a running floater, but Kansas responded with four-straight points at the 13:07 mark of the second frame of play. A few plays later, Chelsea Prince hammered home a tough layup, while Medley tickled the twine from deep to make the score 56-42 with a little over 12 minutes remaining in the contest.
Kansas took a 20-point lead, but Prince and the Frogs would have nothing of it as the sophomore out-hustled the Jayhawks for a loose ball and found Natalie Ventress down low for the bucket with 10:11 to go in the contest. On the next possession, Medley drove to lane and kissed the rock off the glass to record an old fashioned three-point play.
The Frogs were in the midst of a 9-2 run and not backing down as they pulled the scoreboard to 64-51 midway through, but that was as close as TCU would get the rest of the night.
Latricia Lovings, who ended the night with 11 boards, got the Frogs going early as Medley drove to the hole and found the junior down low for the bucket to tie the game at 2-2. Kansas proceeded to go on a 7-0 run before Medley ended the Jayhawk offensive attack with an up and under layup four minutes into the contest.
With the scoreboard reading 12-4 in favor of KU, Medley went back to work, drilling a three at the 15:13 mark. The freshman continued her offensive production a few plays later, beating the shot clock with a runner inside the lane to bring the scoreboard to 14-11 in slight favor of Kansas.
With a little over 12 minutes remaining in the opening frame, the Frogs got defensive as senior Whitney Williams stole the rock and flipped the ball back to Donielle Breaux on the other end for the bucket, which inched the Frogs closer at 17-13.
The two teams would go back and fourth the next couple of trips down the court until Ventress ripped the nets from deep to bring the Frogs within 22-16 midway through the period. Kansas continued to fight though, pushing the scoreboard to 29-18 before Cole dropped in a trey ball at the 4:50 mark.
On the very next possession, Breaux swiped a Kansas player and went coast to coast for the bucket to make the scoreboard read 29-23, but once again Kansas responded with an old fashion three-point play to stall the mini 5-0 run for the Purple and White.
Medley brought the Frogs within 38-30 in the closing seconds, connecting on five-straight for TCU to make the halftime score read 40-30 in favor of Kansas.
