Drew’s Desk: TCU women’s basketball earns historic win over Baylor

The Frogs beat the No. 25 ranked Bears in Fort Worth thanks to a great first half.

TCU Women’s Basketball ended a historical losing streak to Baylor by beating the Bears for the first time since 1990. The Frogs took a lead early at home against Baylor and hung on to win 80-75 over the number 25-ranked Bears. TCU did lose to Oklahoma State earlier in the week by a score of 60-59, but who cares, the Frogs beat Baylor for the first time in 35 years! (I do care about the Oklahoma State loss and will write about adjustments to make later in this article.)

Beating Baylor

TCU’s win over Baylor on Sunday was incredibly important for not only this season but for the program as a whole. For one, TCU added another top-25 win to its resume and handed a conference rival a loss to knock them down to fourth in the conference standings, but beyond that, TCU is proving that the program is one to be reckoned with. Baylor has been the premier women’s basketball program in the state of Texas in recent history and has dominated the rivalry for over three decades.

That changed on Sunday when the Frogs picked up their first-ever win over a ranked Baylor team. At face value, does TCU have more impressive wins this season? Definitely. Is this a relative down year for Baylor Women’s Basketball? Probably, but the game on Sunday was a landmark win for TCU, signaling to the fans, to the media, and to the women’s college basketball world as a whole that Mark Campbell has elevated the program to a new level with the ability to compete on the national stage.

On-ball Defense

The defense for TCU has been excellent this season as they are holding opponents to just 56.9 points per game. Center Sedona Prince has been a big part of that as she ranks first in the NCAA in blocks per game with 3.43 and is strong on the defensive glass to prevent second-chance points. Credit also needs to be given to the on-ball defenders from TCU whose effort allows the Frogs to play drop coverage against the pick-and-roll, keeping Prince near the basket where she is most effective. Drop coverage against a ball screen means that the defender originally guarding the screener stays closer to the basket while the defender guarding the ball handler has to fight around the screen to prevent the ball handler from taking an open jumper. If the defender is late to get around the screen, the play usually results in an open jumper, oftentimes from three.

TCU is only allowing opponents to shoot 30.8% from deep this season and has done a solid job defending the pick-and-roll. Fighting through screens as the on-ball defender in drop coverage requires a high level of effort and TCU perimeter defenders have done a great job of providing that effort this season. The consistent high-motor defense shown by TCU is even more impressive considering the shortened lineup that the Frogs have played during their Big 12 schedule. The perimeter players for TCU have bought into the defensive scheme and it is paying off in a big way.

Second Half

After cruising in the first half against Oklahoma State this past week, and entering halftime with a 39-24 lead, the Frogs scored a total of 20 points in the last 20 minutes of the game, allowing the Cowgirls to come back and pull off the upset. TCU has been outscored by 41 total points in its last four second halves. The Frogs have to do a better job of holding onto to leads down the stretch. Part of the issue is fatigue as the Frogs are consistently rolling out a seven-player rotation and asking their starters to play over 35 minutes in a 40-minute basketball game. There is no quick fix for the short bench that TCU is working with since Maddie Scherr was ruled out for the season with an injury.

There are, however, some changes that can and have already started to be made to keep starters fresh for the second half. Earlier in the season, Prince, Madison Conner, and Hailey Van Lith were all playing almost the entire first half and not seeing significant minutes off the floor until the third quarter. Mark Campbell, recognizing the issue, made a change in the game against Baylor to get his stars early rest by partially staggering their minutes in the first two quarters. This change did help as the Frogs were able to hold onto their lead over the Bears, but the staggering needs to extend to the third quarter as the Frogs still showed signs of fatigue down the stretch against Baylor. Credit to the players for being willing to play such high minute totals, but at some point, fatigue takes its toll.

Highlight of the Week

Clutch and-1 to ice the game from Madison Conner.

Looking Ahead

TCU has a break during the week before heading to Ames to take on Iowa State on Sunday, February 2nd at 3:00 pm.