TCU Women Win At Texas Tech
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LUBBOCK, Texas – Zahna Medley rattled off 22 points and Latricia Lovings tacked on 12 points and nine rebounds as the TCU women’s basketball team earned its first-ever Big 12 road victory in a 65-54 triumph over Texas Tech on Sunday afternoon at United Spirit Arena.
The Horned Frogs posted their sixth win in the last seven contests to improve to 10-4 overall and 1-1 in Big 12 action, while the Red Raiders dropped to 6-7 on the season and 0-2 in league play.
Medley posted her second-straight 22-point performance off an 8-of-17 effort from the field and 5-of-6 mark from the free-throw line while handing out a team-best four assists in 34 minutes of play.
Lovings was huge down the stretch, scoring 10 of her 12 points in the final 10 minutes while coming up just one rebound shy of a double-double. The Fort Worth native also shined from the charity stripe, sinking four crucial free throws on five attempts.
The two teams were back-and-forth through the opening 10 minutes of the contest and were deadlocked at 15 points apiece when Medley kicked to an open Chelsea Prince, who buried the 3-pointer.
After a high floater from Medley, Natalie Ventress drained a long-range bucket to
push the TCU advantage to eight points at the 3:51 mark.
Medley made it an 11-point game when she went coast-to-coast for a layup and Caitlin Diaz rounded out TCU’s 18-0 run with a drive and hook with just over a minute left.
The Frogs held the Red Raiders scoreless over the final 9:30 of the first half and limited Texas Tech to 21-percent shooting as they entered the break with a 30-15 lead.
Medley kept the Red Raiders at a distance in the early portion of the second half, knocking down a 3-pointer before charging the lane and converting a layup on an inbounds pass to give TCU a 39-21 lead at the 16:35 mark.
After Texas Tech rattled off five straight points to cut TCU’s 20-point advantage back to 15 with 9:39 left, Lovings took over, scoring eight of the Frogs’ next nine points to stretch the margin to 55-36 with 4:29 left on the clock.
The Red Raiders used one final run to make things interesting, forcing three-straight TCU turnovers as part of a 12-2 run to cut the lead down to just nine points with 2:02 remaining.
Veja Hamilton stopped the bleeding with a jumper off the glass as the shot clock expired, and Jada Butts found Lovings on a 2-on-1 matchup in the paint for an easy layup to put TCU ahead 61-48 with just over a minute left.
Medley finished the Red Raiders off with 19 seconds remaining, knocking down a contested jumper as the shot clock wound to zero.
Ventress showed no signs of rust coming off an injury that held her out of the last two contests, posting nine points off a 4-of-8 effort from the field, while Prince added six points and seven rebounds in 16 minutes of action.
The Frogs shot a blazing 52 percent (11-of-21) in the final 20 minutes for a 41-percent mark for the game, while the Red Raiders shot 36 percent (19-of-53) for the contest.
After just six free-throw attempts in the first half, TCU used its quickness in the second frame to get to the line early and often, going 16-of-23 (70 percent) overall.
The Horned Frogs won the rebounding battle by a 38-32 margin while forcing 22 turnovers with 15 steals.
TCU returns home to play host to Kansas at 7 p.m., on Wednesday at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. Wednesday’s contest marks the final opportunity for fans to take part in the Holiday Hoops promotion, where tickets can be purchased for just $5.
