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Frogs
avoid emotional let down at home, win conference TCU’s women’s basketball team came through Tuesday night to become the Western Athletic Conference regular season champions, by themselves. After Sunday’s emotional win over Hawaii, the Frogs’ mission was still left incomplete. They had only clinched the title of “Co-Champions.” The players were motivated by the possibility of having sole possession wrapped up by the time they finish the season Saturday at Southern Methodist. The win didn’t come as easily as the Frogs’ had hoped. TCU won the first meeting of the season with San Jose State, 72-63, on Jan. 7 in San Jose, Calif. The Frogs shot only 33 percent from the floor during the first half and 35 percent for the game. Despite this, they still led, 32-27 at the break. The poor shooting was offset by forcing a season-high 34 turnovers, including 18 in the first half. The Frogs only turned the ball over 18 times for the game. Coming into the game, TCU had a 14-1 record in contests where it dished out at least 15 assists. Against the Spartans, the Frogs set up 15 of their 20 successful field goal attempts with an assist. Another way the Frogs made up for poor field goal shooting was from the free-throw line. TCU only shot a mediocre 64 percent from the charity stripe, but that was enough considering they attempted 33 free throws, and San Jose State was only 3-of-9. Senior guard Amy Porter seemed delighted after the win. Porter has seen the team undergo a huge change for the better since she first arrived at TCU in 1997. “Since the moment I walked on this campus, it’s totally a different team,” she said. “From coaches to athletic directors ... everything’s changed.” Freshman forward Tiffany Evans came off the bench to have a nice game. In 18 minutes, she grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds and added 7 points. Sunday’s game against Hawaii was the third particularly emotional game for the Frogs. The first two were a home loss Nov. 27 against Tennessee and a road victory over SMU Feb. 9. Despite losing to Tennessee, the Frogs played tough but couldn’t outlast the Lady Vols, who were ranked No. 2 in the nation at the time. The following game, TCU suffered a disappointing four-point loss at home to North Texas. Against SMU, the Frogs went to Dallas and beat the Mustangs for the first time in the last 20 games. TCU avoided an emotional a let down in the following game, as it scored an impressive 19-point win over Rice three days later. With about five minutes remaining, the crowd started a “De-Fense” chant. The excitement continued to the end of the game, finishing with a well-deserved standing ovation. “I really appreciate the standing ovation with about a minute left,” head coach Jeff Mittie said after the game. Junior guard Tricia Payne said, “it’s really awesome to be a part of this team right now.” Payne said she planned to wear her new WAC Champions T-shirt to school on Wednesday.
Sam Eaton is a junior broadcast journalism major from San Diego,
Calif. |