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Championship
Challenge Ten-year-old Katherine Parham, a member of the Grapevine Starzz girl’s basketball team, went to her first TCU women’s basketball game along with some of her teammates Sunday. She didn’t know what was at stake as the Frogs hosted Hawaii. She didn’t know the Frogs had a chance to clinch their first Western Athletic Conference title with a victory. She just wished she could play like her favorite player, junior forward Tricia Payne. “It was awesome,” Parham said. “I’ve never seen a game like this ever before. The Frogs passed the ball very well. I really enjoyed getting Tricia Payne’s autograph after the game.” But when the Frogs defeated Hawaii, 73-67, Sunday, the game became more than just a memory for Parham. With the victory, the Frogs clinched at least a tie for their first WAC title.
And Payne said she couldn’t be happier. “I’m ecstatic,” Payne said. “I knew if we stayed together and stayed strong, we could do this. Our crowd was amazing.” The Frogs extended their record to 20-6 overall and 12-2 in the WAC. Senior guard Amy Porter said Sunday’s victory was the biggest of her career. “Last week was one of the toughest weeks we ever had as a team,” Porter said. “In three days, we hadn’t smiled. We felt a little bit of pressure, but we stepped up and refocused in front of our crowd. After the Frogs lost two of their three road games, head coach Jeff Mittie said the Hawaii win was just what the team needed. “After the (Texas-El Paso) loss, we were absolutely sick,” Mittie said. “(The Hawaii game) was the medicine we needed to get better. We’ve been a consistent team all year long, and I wasn’t going to let one game define this basketball team. It’s been an awfully long week and the team responded well. “You had to be in the locker room after that UTEP loss to understand how hard this team has worked to get to this point.” With 7:25 remaining in the first half, the Frogs had a, 24-19, lead. That lead dwindled down to just two points with 4:25 remaining in the half. With junior forward Kati Safaritova’s 11 first-half points, the Frogs took a, 37-32, lead into intermission. The Frogs shot 41.7 percent (15-of-36) from the field, while the Wahine shot 42.9 percent (12-of-28) from the field. In the second half, TCU opened up a, 48-36, lead with 14:16 remaining in the game. But after Hawaii went on 16-3 run, they managed its first lead of the game since the opening minutes of the game at 52-51. The Frogs shot just 27.6 (8-of-29) percent from the field in the second half. Payne led the team in scoring with 23 points. Senior forward Crystal Lee led the Wahine with 32 points. As Parham and 3,402 others exited Daniel-Meyer Coliseum, she said she hoped to one day play on the court instead of sitting in the stands. “I definitely want to come to another game and play for the Frogs when I get older,” she said.
Kelly Morris |
