Drew’s Desk: TCU women’s basketball continues to roll

The Frogs picked up another two wins this week to stay tied for first in the Big 12.

TCU Women’s Basketball extended the winning streak to five games thanks to two victories over Big 12 opponents this week. The Frogs took down Arizona State on the road this past Wednesday by a score of 82-66 before picking up a win over number 17-ranked West Virginia in Fort Worth by a score of 71-50 on Sunday. The Frogs are now 26-3 on the season and 14-2 in conference play which has them tied for first in the Big 12 with Baylor. The Frogs have just two games remaining in the regular season as they look to lock up a Big 12 regular season championship and a two-seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Winning in Different Ways

It is well known across the sporting world that the best teams can win games in multiple different ways and TCU Women’s Basketball certainly has that ability. In the two games played this week, the Horned Frogs relied on two different sources of offense and scored at least 70 points in both matchups. In the game against Arizona State, TCU ball screens were aggressively defended meaning the ball handler in the pick-and-roll, generally Hailey Van Lith, saw extra help defense throughout the game.

The Frogs quickly adjusted to pass quickly when the defense sent extra help and ran more off-ball sets for Madison Conner. Conner ended the game with a team-high 22 points and Van Lith picked up seven assists against the Sun Devils. West Virginia took a different defensive approach, relying more on their defenders to hold their own without excessive help defense and Van Lith and Sedona Prince took full advantage. Van Lith had an efficient 26 points on 8-12 shooting from the field while Prince had 20 points and knocked down her first three-pointer of the season.

The ability to attack defenses in multiple ways is a very important trait for teams looking to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament and TCU has shown that it has the offensive weapons to do so.

Defense

TCU’s defense has been consistently great this season and the past two games were no exception. The Frogs held Arizona State to just 66 points on 36.5% shooting from the field. The Sun Devils did have success shooting from deep but the Frogs made up for that with excellent rim protection as TCU scored over twice as many points in the paint as ASU. The Frogs collected seven blocks as a team against the Sun Devils with two from both Prince and Van Lith and one each from Donovyn Hunter, Agnes Emma-Nnopu, and Aaliyah Roberson.

TCU did an even better job on the defensive end against West Virginia, holding a team that averages over 76 points per game to just 50 points and 30.5% shooting from the field. TCU tightened up its defense on the three-point line holding the Mountaineers to just 16.7% shooting from three as a team. Prince was a disruptive force in rim protection again with seven blocks against West Virginia. TCU’s guards did a great job of sticking with West Virginia star JJ Quinerly, holding her to just 13 points on 5-18 shooting from the field. TCU’s defensive effort has been a constant positive all season.

Extra Possessions

After two blowout victories, any criticism is nit-picking but the Frogs can do a better job of limiting extra possessions given to opposing offenses. Both the Sun Devils and Mountaineers were able to collect double-digit offensive rebounds against the Frogs with ASU grabbing 10 offensive boards and WVU grabbing 12. The Frogs also had double-digit turnovers in both games with 18 turnovers against the Mountaineers and 13 turnovers against the Sun Devils. TCU’s defense was excellent in both games meaning those extra possessions did not turn into too many points, but in closer games, the Frogs need to capitalize on missed shots and avoid turning the ball over.

Highlight of the Week

Buzzer beating three from Hailey Van Lith against the Mountaineers.

Looking Ahead

The Frogs control their destiny in the race for the regular season Big 12 Championship with the final two regular season games taking place this week. Senior night for the Frogs will take place this Wednesday as TCU will take on Houston at 6:30 pm. However, the game that everyone has circled on the calendar is on Sunday when the Frogs will travel down to Waco for a matchup against Baylor at 5:30 pm that could decide the Big 12 regular season championship.