Women’s Basketball: TCU’s magical season concludes with Elite Eight loss to Texas

Horned Frogs fall in regional final to No. 1 seed Longhorns

TCU Women’s Basketball’s historic 2024-25 campaign came to an end on Monday night in the Elite Eight Birmingham Regional Final, falling to No. 1 seed Texas Longhorns 58-47. The Horned Frogs finish the season 34-4 overall with an outright Big 12 regular season title and a Big 12 Tournament Championship, shattering records and reaching never-before-seen heights for any TCU Basketball program, coming up just a game short of the Final Four. Hailey Van Lith led the Horned Frogs with 17 points and 8 rebounds

In a game that was always going to be a defensive rock fight with a battle of the bigs in the paint as TCU’s Sedona Prince was matched up against the Texas star Madison Booker, it was the Longhorns forward that won that war, as the game’s leading scorer with 18 points. Prince was able to block a shot and grab nine rebounds, but could only produce four points before fouling out with over six minutes remaining in regulation. The Longhorns owned the paint all game, scoring 24 points at the rim and earned 12 second chance points thanks to 11 offensive rebounds.

The Texas defense was impenetrable all night. TCU made just 12 shots from the field, shooting a brutal 26.7%, both season lows by a wide margin. With the ‘Horns owning the paint, it was going to be the Frogs’ three-point proficiency that would have delivered an advantage, but TCU shot 20% from beyond the arc, making the comeback efforts exceedingly difficult. The Horned Frogs also committed a season-high 21 turnovers as the Texas swarming defense forced TCU into bad decisions including multiple 5-second in-bound violations, 10-second backcourt violations, and shot-clock violations while also taking nine steals & generating nine fast break points

TCU dug itself into a hole early, going over five and a half minutes into the game before making its first field goal and only made three shots during the period, however two of them were from long range. The Frogs’ defense was equally stifling to open the game, preventing Texas to get anything going in the halfcourt, however the ‘Horns were able to score most of its 13 first quarter points off of fast break or turnover.

Similar to the Sweet Sixteen game vs. Notre Dame, the Horned Frogs had taken some brutal punches to open the contest but were able to get up off the mat and continue the fight. In the 2nd quarter the Longhorns were able to extend its advantage as large as nine points as TCU sustained long stretches with no scoring. With both offenses held off the scoreboard for over three minutes, the Frogs finally broke free over the final minute of the half, scoring seven straight points to bring the game to a halftime margin of just two points.

It was a back-and-forth affair to open the second half as the teams traded baskets before a pair of Emma-Nnopu free throws evened the score at 29 midway through the 3rd quarter. The Longhorns’ physical play was making life difficult for the TCU offense as the Frogs could only get two shots to fall in the period, but were able to draw the officials’ attention, drawing seven fouls and shooting a perfect 8-8 from the free throw line. However Texas simply had an answer – and then some – for every moment. Madison Booker put the team on her back for eight points while the ‘Horns shot just under 50% from the field for an offensive explosion in its best quarter of the game to push its lead back to nine.

Madison Conner opened the 4th quarter with a bang, splashing home a three-pointer that looked to be the spark needed for the Frogs to keep the game within reach. However consecutive TCU turnovers leading to easy buckets, including a killer and-one conversion from Kyla Oldacre delivered a double digit advantage for the Longhorns that would prove insurmountable. With Prince fouled out, Deasia Merrill provided a spark for TCU, blocking shots, grabbing rebounds, and scoring four points to reach the 1,000 point milestone for her career. Merrill’s lay-in capped an 8-0 run and TCU clawed its way back to a six point margin with under three minutes to play. The next Texas possession featured multiple second-chance opportunities before Madison Booker delivered the final nail in the coffin with a midrange jumper on the under-basket out-of-bounds play, putting the game out of reach. The incredible season that had captivated the nation had come to a close, but the names will be etched in Horned Frogs lore forever, adding new banners to Schollmaier Arena and setting a new standard for greatness at TCU.