Celebrate Good Times
Basketball squad wins 11th straight

By Kelly Morris
Associate Sports Editor

The TCU women’s basketball team had a lot to celebrate this weekend as it won against Southern Methodist for the first time in 10 years 71-63 Friday.

The celebration continued for the Frogs Monday as they defeated Rice for their 11th straight win.

With the victory, the Frogs recorded their 10th straight victory at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum, ninth straight victory in the Western Athletic Conference and a series sweep against the Owls this season. With a record of 14-0, the Frogs are still undefeated when scoring at least 70 points.

Head coach Jeff Mittie said he didn’t expect his team to lose focus after the Frogs’ big win against SMU.

David Dunai/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER Junior forward Tricia Payne draws a foul as she drives to the basket in TCU’s, 72-53, victory over Rice Monday at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. Payne scored 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting.

“I wasn’t worried about a let down,” Mittie said. “But the team was a little tired and heavy-legged in the second half because of the two games (back-to-back).”

Senior forward Janice Thomas scored the first four points of the game. With 11:22 remaining in the first half, the Frogs opened up a 20-10 lead. The Frogs furthered that margin as they went on a 15-0 run to reach their biggest lead of the half at 37-17. The offensive run included consecutive three pointers by senior guard Jill Sutton. Sutton led the Frogs in scoring at the half with a perfect 4-for-4 performance from behind the arc for 12 points. The Frogs went into intermission with a 37-21 lead.

Shooting 50 percent from the field in the first half, the Frogs matched their first-half shooting they had against the Owls earlier in the season. The Owls shot just 33.3 percent (9-27) in the first half.

Thomas once again opened up the scoring in the second half, but besides that, the second half looked very different from the first. With 7:47 remaining in the game, the Frogs had made just 7 of 20 shots from the field and 1 of 8 shot from three-point range. Rice narrowed the Frogs’ lead to 10 points at 6:44 and 14:58 of the second half.

Sutton said Rice’s second-half performance wasn’t totally unexpected.

“Rice is never an easy team to play,” Sutton said. “They came in here, and we knew they would be gunning for us.”

But in the season’s first meeting between the Owls and Frogs Jan. 19, TCU held the Owls to just 35 points in its 58-35 victory. The 35 points scored against the Frogs marked the third-fewest allowed in school history.

However, Mittie said he was a little disappointed with the Frog’s second half performance.

“It wasn’t always pretty, but the first half was certainly very good,” Mittie said. “In the second half, we were not as active in the glass, but give Rice credit because they were definitely the more aggressive team in the second half.”

Sutton, Thomas, and junior forwards Tricia Payne and Kati Safaritova continued their party from the weekend as each scored in double figures for the Frogs.