Women’s Basketball: Van Lith scores 26 to lead No. 10 TCU in blowout of Houston

Horned Frogs complete a perfect 19-0 regular season in Schollmaier Arena

It was a Senior Night send off in Schollmaier Arena on Wednesday night, the final home regular season game for the most heralded team in TCU Women’s Basketball history as the tenth-ranked Horned Frogs demolished the Houston Cougars 91-56. With the win, TCU improved to 27-3 on the season and 15-2 in Big 12 play, finishing a perfect 19-0 at home through the regular season and setting up a winner-take-all showdown with Baylor on Sunday in Waco for the conference title and No. 1 seed in the Big 12 Tournament.
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Hailey Van Lith dominated the first half, scoring 20 of her game-leading 26 points in the first 20 minutes as TCU cruised to a 31-point advantage at halftime. TCU sprinted to a 9-0 lead to start the game before the Cougars bounced back with seven straight; that 2-point margin was the closest the game would ever get as TCU would turn on the jet engines and never look back. The 2nd Quarter was perhaps the best period of basketball TCU played all season, the Frogs would make an absurd 7 of 9 three-point attempts, including three straight from Van Lith, while outrebounding Houston 13-4 and holding the Cougars to just eight points in the frame.

Even with the game well in hand, TCU continued to pour it on in the second half, getting major contributions off the bench from Deasia Merrill, Una Jovanovic, and Aaliyah Roberson. Madison Conner and Sedona Prince each scored in double digits despite fewer minutes than usual. Conner continued to shoot fireballs from long range, scoring all of her 15 points via five daggers from beyond the arc while filling the stat sheet with 5 assists, 4 rebounds and a steal. For Prince, it was 13 points on 56% shooting from the field, owning the paint with nine rebounds.

The win marked the 700th in program history on a Senior Night that celebrated the collegiate careers of seven Horned Frogs: DaiJa Turner, Deasia Merrill, Una Jovanovic, Agnes Emma-Nnopu, Sedona Prince, Madison Conner, and Hailey Van Lith. While it was the home finale of the regular season, the Frogs remain in prime position to secure a top-16 ranking by the NCAA Selection Committee and earn home court advantage for the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament and will look to continue its winning ways in March.

The Big 12 regular season championship will be decided on Sunday March 2 at 5:30 PM from Waco’s Foster Pavilion vs. No. 17 Baylor Bears, broadcast on FS1.