Lady Frogs defeat Houston
TCU wins despite poor free throw shooting
By Drew Irwin
Skiff Staff

In a game they needed to win, the Lady Frogs (10-11, 3-5) refused to let history repeat itself, as they held on for a 60-51 victory over Houston (10-10, 2-6) Sunday at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.

On Jan. 12, the Cougars took an early 14-4 lead and never looked back in a 64-50 win in Houston. They took a similar 7-1 lead Sunday, but a TCU timeout changed the tempo of the game. After the timeout, the Lady Frogs went on a 10-0 run to take their first lead of the day.

“I don’t remember what (Head Coach Jeff Mittie) said during the timeout,” said sophomore forward Sandora Irvin. “But we all recognized that we needed to score more because it’s really hard to play when we’re down.”

Irvin led all TCU players with 13 points and 11 rebounds, recording her eighth double-double of the year.

“(Irvin) was real strong with the ball in the second half,” Mittie said. “She did a great job splitting the double-team and getting to the free-throw line.”

The Lady Frogs, however, could not put the game away because of poor free throw shooting. They made only 13 of 28 free throws in the game, and they only hit three of their last 10 shots from the line.

“Fortunately, the free throw shooting wasn’t costly,” Mittie said. “We’ve shot them well all year, but I’d rather have this in a win than in a two-point loss.”

TCU did shoot well from three-point range. In fact, they shot better from behind the arc (46.7 percent) than they did from the free-throw line (46.4 percent). Senior guard Tricia Payne hit three three-pointers, including a crucial shot in the last two minutes to put the game away.

“We had spurts offensively,” Mittie said. “(Payne) shot it well in transition, and we had great (offensive) rebounds in the second half.”

Houston was held to its lowest point total of the year, and it only shot 29.4 percent from the field. Houston was even worse from the three-point line, only making six of 33 shots from behind the arc.

“They didn’t have any idea how we were playing defense,” Irvin said. “They couldn’t attack us, and they seemed confused all game.”

TCU led by as many as 18 points in the second half, but Houston stayed in the game behind strong performances by Chandi Jones and Shondra Bush. Jones led all players with 22 points, and Bush scored 19.

Drew Irwin
r.a.irwin@tcu.edu