Lady Frogs to play E. Carolina in round 1
By Drew Irwin
Skiff Staff

After a long and unpredictable season, the women’s basketball team is preparing for something quite familiar to them.

Post season play.

The Lady Frogs (15-13, 8-6 Conference USA) will face off against East Carolina (12-15, 4-10 C-USA) in the first round of the C-USA Tournament today in Memphis, Tenn. TCU, which holds a fifth seed in this year’s tournament, had the top seed last season.

“It’s wide open,” head coach Jeff Mittie said. “Moving to a neutral building is important because I believe there has been a big home court advantage this year.”

The standings prove Mittie is correct. The 12 teams in the tournament have a combined 60-24 record in home conference games this season. On the road, that record decreases to a mere 32-52. In fact, only three of the 12 teams sport conference road records over .500.

But TCU is not one of those three. After losing their first three C-USA road games, the Lady Frogs finished conference play with an overall 2-5 record away from Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.

TCU beat East Carolina Jan. 24, 85-46, at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.

However, Mittie said he is not using that game as a determinant to how today’s game will go.

“We haven’t faced East Carolina in a month,” Mittie said. “As far as I’m concerned, they’re a different team, and I know we’re a different team.”

If TCU beats the Lady Pirates, it will play Tulane (19-8, 10-4 C-USA) 8 p.m. Friday. Tulane is 3-0 against the Lady Frogs in the last two years, including a 74-65 win in February. Tulane knocked TCU out of the conference tournament last year in the second round with a 80-76 win.

Junior guard Ebony Shaw said she would have liked to face Tulane later in the tournament but is not looking past East Carolina.

“We need to focus on the first one,” Shaw said. “We’re going to go step-by-step. We’re not even thinking about (Tulane).”

In such an unpredictable conference, Mittie said no team is safe. This year, C-USA has seen several upsets, including a February win by last-place South Florida over first-place Charlotte.

“The tournament is unpredictable,” Shaw said. “There have been a lot of people winning and losing games and that shows that we have a good conference.”

Elsewhere in the conference, Charlotte claimed the C-USA championship Sunday after finishing 12-2 in conference play. The 49ers will have a first round bye in the tournament, along with Cincinnati, DePaul and Tulane.

Despite the second-round loss in the tournament last year, the Lady Frogs were still invited to the NCAA tournament for the second straight season.

This season it appears that TCU will have to win the C-USA tournament if they want to make a return trip.

Drew Irwin