Monday, November 12, 2007

TCU women’s basketball goes 1-1 over weekend in WNIT

By Pegasus News wire

TCU 73, Radford 64

Senior Helen Roden led four double-figure scorers with a career-high 18 points and the Lady Frogs forced 30 turnovers while upending Radford, 74-63, in the first round of the Preseason WNIT Friday evening at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.

Coupled with LSU's 82-32 victory over Samford Friday, TCU's win advanced the squad to a second-round matchup with the Tigers Sunday in Baton Rouge, La. Gametime is scheduled for 2 p.m. at LSU's Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

Roden put together a career effort to help offset the loss of senior Adrianne Ross, who played only 15 minutes due to severe leg cramping. A 5-8 native of Melbourne, Australia, Roden shot only 5-of-13 from the floor, but managed to hit all six free throw attempts while providing several big plays during her career performance. She also pulled in five rebounds.

Also reaching double figures for the Frogs were senior Lorie Butler-Rayford, who notched 12 points and eight boards, and freshman Helena Sverrisdottir, who tallied 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Sverrisdottir started in her first career outing for TCU, joining sophomore Shayla Moore as the only players to accomplish the feat the last two years.

Ross, despite limited action, still managed to reach double digits with 10 points.

Junior Johnette Walker and freshman Taleia Moton each poured in 14 points to pace Radford, but TCU was able to force Moton to commit 11 turnovers, the third-most ever for a Lady Frog opponent.

TCU's individual efforts helped the squad overcome a less-than-stellar ball-handling performance of its own. The Frogs finished with 29 turnovers, six more than they had during any game last season, but a 34-22 scoring advantage in the paint and 37-22 rebounding margin helped push them over the top against the Highlanders.

"I liked our defense tonight," said Head Coach Jeff Mittie. "The first 15 minutes of this game was as good as I've seen it. We did not foul them and I thought our defense was excellent at that stretch.

"Down the stretch I thought we had better shots, and we made it to the free-throw line," said Head Coach Jeff Mittie. "That was critical for us. Helen (Roden) hit a big three in front of the bench and that maybe pushed us a little bit and got us some energy, but it was one of those games where nothing came easy tonight."

TCU led at intermission by four, 31-27, before a back-and-forth second half featuring four ties and six lead changes.

Roden made a huge play for the Frogs with just under 14 minutes remaining. Sverrisdottir threw a errant pass toward backcourt that Roden tracked down between two Highlander defenders before firing a pass in the paint to Butler-Rayford, who was fouled. Butler-Rayford would make both foul shots to put TCU up six, 47-41.

The Highlanders battled back and eventually took a 49-47 lead after buckets by Fertitta and White and two free throws by Walker. TCU regrouped to re-take a five-point lead after a pair of shots from the line by Roden at the 4:27 mark. The Frogs turned up the defensive pressure in the game's final five minutes, allowing only four points down the stretch while outscoring Radford 12-4.

Sverrisdottir and Ross helped TCU start the game fast, combining to score all of the Frogs' points for a 9-5 lead at the first media timeout. Ross recorded a pair of fastbreak layups in the first three minutes, with Sverrisdottir adding one of her own. The Lady Frogs bogged down with a three-minute scoreless period after Ross was ticketed with her second foul, forcing her out of the lineup.

After the Highlanders knotted the score at 9-9, Ross returned and sparked the Frogs to a 11-0 run. Ross made two quick buckets after hitting the floor before Butler-Rayford drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the key. Sophomore Danielle Nunn added a putback off an offensive board, and junior Micaela Younger added her first points on a post-up in the paint, all while the Frogs held Radford scoreless for more than six minutes.

Radford rallied to cut the lead, but Younger put the stop to a more than two-minute Purple and White drought with a bucket in the paint. The two teams traded baskets and free throws down the stretch to reach intermission with the score 31-27.

LSU 73, TCU 54

The TCU women's basketball team registered another solid early-season defensive effort Saturday, but No. 5/5 LSU pulled away in the second half to hand the Lady Frogs a 73-54 road loss in the second round of the Preseason WNIT at the Tigers' Maravich Center.

The Purple and White dropped to the tournament's consolation bracket with the loss and will now wait to learn of their final WNIT opponent. The next game is likely to occur Friday, Nov. 16, but the Frogs must wait to learn the details of their matchup until other games are completed. It is not known whether the game will be held at TCU's Daniel-Meyer Coliseum or on the road.

TCU held the Lady Tigers to only 37 percent shooting from the field in the first half Saturday to keep the game within reach by intermission, but LSU's defense was equally as tough. The Frogs scored only 26 points in the second half and went without a field goal in the final 5:02 as the Tigers pulled away.

Senior Adrianne Ross scored a team-14 points while showing no ill effects of the leg cramps that hampered her during TCU's season-opening win over Radford Friday. She was the lone Lady Frog that reached double-figures in scoring, although freshman Helena Sverrisdottir chipped in nine points and shared the team lead with six boards.

Senior Lorie Butler-Rayford tied Sverrisdottir with six rebounds and added eight points, while junior Micaela Younger's eight points tied her career high set last season against Pepperdine.

Senior All-American Sylvia Fowles, who sat much of the first half while in foul trouble, led three Lady Tigers in double figures with 16 points. LSU went to the 6-foot-6 Fowles early and often in the second half, as she scored 11 points in the stanza on her way to a 6-for-6 shooting night from the field. Seniors Quianna Chaney and Allison Hightower scored 14 and 12 points, respectively. Hightower drilled 4-of-5 3-point attempts for LSU.

The Lady Frogs showed up ready to play against an LSU squad that had reached each of the last four NCAA Final Fours, running out to an early 13-4 lead just over four minutes into the game. Butler-Rayford and Sverrisdottir each accounted for four points during the stretch, as TCU controlled the paint in the early going. In fact, TCU grabbed 10 of the game's first 12 rebounds against a Tiger squad that out-rebounded its opponents by a margin of 5.5 per game during its NCAA Final Four run a year ago.

Following its early success, the Lady Frogs suffered through a prolonged drought featuring only three points over the next 11:16. LSU was able to push out to a 14-point lead before TCU mounted a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 35-28 entering intermission. Included in the scoring was a tip-in to end the half at the buzzer by senior Jenna Lohse.

TCU hung around much of the second half, but the Tigers eventually pulled away down the stretch. Chaney hit a pair of second-half treys, as LSU shot nearly 60 percent from the field in the second period. The Frogs were also out-rebounded in the half by a 19-13 margin.

Source: TCU

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