Frogs return to play after nine days off
Conference-leading women look for eighth-straight victory, second over Tulsa

By Kelly Morris
Associate Sports Editor

It’s been nine days since the Western Athletic Conference-leading women’s basketball team played a game, but senior forward Janice Thomas said she is anxious to once again take the court

“The layoff was good for us,” Thomas said. “Although we would have preferred to keep playing, we still benefited from the break. We had really good, productive practices where we worked on our offense and defense.

“Our time off allowed us to take care of our little injuries and our personal business.”

With 7.3 rebounds a game, Thomas leads the Frogs in rebounding.

File photo Junior forward Tricia Payne attempts to drive to the basket in practice at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. The women’s basketball team plays the Golden Hurricane at 7:05 p.m. tonight in Tulsa.

Tonight’s game at Tulsa will mark the season’s final meeting between the Golden Hurricane and the Frogs. Before the Frogs’ layoff, the team defeated Tulsa 71-54 Jan. 23.

Freshman guard Ebony Shaw said the team must come out with a stronger start this time as TCU (14-4, 6-0 WAC) allowed the Golden Hurricane to shoot 50 percent from the field in the first half of their last meeting.

“We didn’t start the game like we wanted to against Tulsa,” Shaw said. “After playing the last game, we learned that we have to jump out early and jump out with good defense against (Tulsa) if it’s going to be our game.”

Similar to the Frogs, Tulsa (5-13, 2-5 WAC) hasn’t played a game in four days.

The game will be the 15th meeting between the two teams.

The Frogs lead the series 8-6, but since Tulsa’s first season in the WAC in 1996-97, the Frogs are just 1-3 when playing at Donald W. Reynolds Center. Tulsa is 1-2 at home in the WAC and is averaging 56.2 points a game. Junior forward Leela Farr leads Tulsa, averaging 11.3 points a game.

Shaw said even though Tulsa and the Frogs haven’t played a game in a few days, she doesn’t expect the game’s tempo to be affected.

“I think if one team had been playing a lot of basketball, and the other had a lot of time off, it would be a problem,” Shaw said.
Freshman forward Tiffany Evans said she is looking forward to playing on the road.

“From what I’ve heard, Tulsa is one of the hardest places to play because of their loud fans,” Evans said. “Although it’s hard to play on the road, we always seem to play well together no matter where we are.

“If something goes wrong, there is always someone else there to pick us up. If we stay focused, come out strong and stick to our game plan, we will get a win tomorrow.”

For the first time in school history, the Frogs received votes in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. In the Jan. 22 rankings, the team registered two votes.

Kelly Morris
k.l.morris@student.tcu.edu