TCU Women's Basketball: Horned Frogs Test Roster Depth During Non-Conference Win
A fight midway through the second quarter and subsequent ejections left TCU women’s basketball (4-4) short-handed in a 70-58 win over George Washington University (GWU) on Monday night.
“We don’t ever want to be a part of anything like that,” TCU head coach Raegan Pebley said. “I definitely know that we have, as do they, high character kids that the moment got away from all of them.”
TCU forward Bella Cravens, guard Roxane Makolo and forward Lucy Ibeh were dismissed from the contest along with five GWU players. The Colonials (5-5) played the rest of the game with seven players.
As of publication, it is not known if Cravens, Makolo, and Ibeh will miss additional games.
The fight occurred in front of the GWU bench when Cravens grabbed an offensive rebound. GWU guard Essence Brown pulled Cravens hair, which caused Cravens to drop the ball. Brown grabbed the loose ball and Cravens pushed Brown.
Brown said something as Cravens started walking away, but the message didn’t sit well. Cravens got in Brown’s face and the words quickly escalated to punches. Teammates stepped in to pull them apart.
After the dust settled, both teams shot free throws and TCU took a 29-26 lead. The Horned Frogs then outscored the Colonials 11-6 for a 40-32 halftime advantage.
The team’s Culture of One motto and tight bonds helped spark the run.
“We’re all sisters,” guard Tara Manumaleuga said. “We all have each other’s back whether we’re down three players, down one player. We’re going back on that court to win by 20, 30 points.”
With two of the team’s top three scorers in the locker room, TCU needed someone to step up and complement guard Tomi Taiwo’s game-high 20 points.
Manumaleuga filled the role with a season-high 13 points. A four-steal performance on defense fueled the offensive output.
“She’s struggled offensively a bit and she’s really settled into taking pressure off of herself in that space,” Pebley said. “That’s all it was. It wasn’t that she wasn’t capable of being a good offensive player, I just think she put a lot of pressure on herself.”
Guard Knisha Godfrey added 10 points, two steals, and a blocked shot. Mia Lakstigala led GWU with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
The Horned Frogs maintained the eight-point lead through the end of the third quarter. GWU cut the lead to six with 4:52 left, but Godfrey’s jumper from inside the three-point line and Manumaleuga’s three-pointer made it an 11-point game.
TCU and GWU came out on fire in the first quarter, with each team shooting over 56% from the field. The Horned Frogs forced turnovers using a full court press and turned a seven-point deficit into a 21-20 advantage at the quarter.
This was a change from Friday’s performance against Rice when TCU shot 28% in the first quarter and fell behind 17-8.
“We knew there was going to be a surge at the beginning of the (GWU) game, and we couldn’t be the ones on our heels,” Pebley said. “I loved the group we had starting. We backed the starting group with a defensive game plan that was going to allow us to be the aggressor.”
The Horned Frogs finished shooting 42% (21-of-50) from the field and 73% (22-of-30) at the free throw line. The Colonials came in at 36.8% (21-of-57) overall and 55% (11-of-20) from the charity stripe.
TCU will continue a four-game non-conference homestretch against Missouri State on Friday, December 9 at 6pm. The Horned Frogs have not won back-to-back games yet this season. The loss at Rice on Friday provided several lessons that could help break that trend.
“Just maintaining our focus, that was something that we lacked last game,” Taiwo said. “It was definitely a winnable game at Rice. Things like not knowing personnel or helping off shooters was something that we really wanted to hone in on this game and other games going forward.”
