Women’s Basketball: Madison Conner’s 22 second half points lead No. 10 TCU past Arizona State

Horned Frogs improve to 13-2 in Big 12 play with sweep of Arizona road trip

In a return trip to her home state, Madison Conner had a stellar week, first taking down her former team Arizona Wildcats with 18 points on 70% shooting, on Wednesday night she scored 22 second half points to lead No. 10 TCU past the pesky Sun Devils 82-66 in Tempe. Despite being heavy underdogs, Arizona State (8-19; 2-13 Big 12) was undaunted by the Horned Frogs, remaining within striking distance for much of the contest as TCU led by just seven at halftime before Conner caught fire in the second half. After being held scoreless through the opening 20 minutes, TCU’s sharpshooter drained four three-pointers after halftime, crossing the century mark for made 3FGs on the season, and breaking her own record for most made threes in a single season for the Horned Frogs.

Even with Connor’s heroics after halftime, it was one of TCU’s worst shooting nights from beyond the arc this season, missing 15 3FGs and making under 32% from distance. Instead of relying on the deep ball, the Frogs spread the wealth with five players scoring in double digits and logging assists on 23 of TCU’s 33 made baskets. The Horned Frogs rank second nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio, and on Wednesday it was Donovyn Hunter getting the start and delivering the dimes, dishing seven assists with only two turnovers committed. Hailey Van Lith was also on triple-double watch all night, finishing with seven assists of her own to go with eight rebounds and 10 points.

On the other side of the court, the Sun Devils had its best shooting night of the season from three-point range, making 55% of its 3FGs, led by Tyi Skinner’s 4 made threes as part of her 25 points to lead ASU. However TCU was able to clean up the glass any time the shots weren’t falling, dominating the rebounding battle 42-26 while allowing ASU to only log five second-chance points. TCU owned the post, in addition to the rebounding advantage, the Frogs blocked seven shots, including two from Sedona Prince who ranks top-five nationally, and outscored the Devils in the paint by 20 points.

It’s never easy to go on the road and pick up a conference win and Arizona State gave the Horned Frogs all it could handle in Tempe, but TCU never trailed and emerged with a comfortable final margin. TCU improves to 25-3 on the season and remains atop the Big 12 standings with a 13-2 league record. Next up is a massive showdown in Schollmaier as No. 17 West Virginia visits Fort Worth on Sunday at 11:00 AM, to be broadcast on ESPN2.