TCU Women's Basketball Falls at Home to Kansas
TCU women's basketball battled Kansas down to the wire but came up short, 81-74, at Schollmaier Arena on Saturday.
Guard Sydney Harris paced the Horned Frogs with 22 points on 7-of-14 shooting and grabbed six rebounds. Her barrage of three-pointers in the second quarter, including a 3-of-3 start, helped TCU erase an early deficit. Kansas guard S'Mya Nichols scored 22 points while teammate Taiyanna Jackson had 20 points and secured nine rebounds.
The Horned Frogs (15-6 overall, 2-8 Big 12) and Jayhawks (12-10, 5-6) exchanged the lead 14 times throughout the game. TCU took a 69-68 lead with 5:48 left in the game when guard Una Jovanovic hit a jumper just outside the key. Kansas then went on a 13-5 run to close out the game, which was aided by missed shots and a couple TCU turnovers.
Jackson's 6-foot-6 frame gave Kansas a size advantage down low. The Jayhawks won the rebounding battle 36-25 and outscored the Horned Frogs 42-22 inside the paint. TCU shared the ball well on offense, dishing out 23 assists on 25 made baskets.
TCU had four total players crack double-digit scoring. Guard Agnes Emma-Nnopu chipped in 18 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Jovanovic tacked on 10 points and added a career-high seven assists while forward Aaliyah Roberson posted 10 points and a career-high five assists.
Agnes Emma-Nnopu drives to the basket against Kansas.
Brian McLean/KillerFrogs
Foul trouble hurt the Horned Frogs during the second half. Roberson picked up her fourth foul with 3:06 left in the third quarter, and Emma-Nnopu grabbed number 4 about a minute into the fourth quarter. Jovanovic and guard Victoria Flores also ended the game with four fouls.
Flores gave TCU its largest edge, 61-56, on a layup late in the third quarter.
The Horned Frogs struggled scoring early, shooting 14% from the field as the Jayhawks built up an 8-3 lead midway through the first quarter. Tara Manumaleuga scored TCU's only points on a three-pointer. Manumaleuga finished with eight points and a career-high eight assists.
Kansas extended the lead to 10-4 before TCU started finding an offensive rhythm.
Harris nailed three consecutive three-pointers to give TCU a 23-22 advantage with 7:59 left in the second quarter. Manumaleuga sank a three-pointer as the shot clock hit zero on the next possession.
TCU's scoring attack slowed down over the final 6:36 of the first half, which allowed Kansas to retake the lead. A 9-0 spurt put the Jayhawks up 37-31, but another Harris three-pointer made it a three-point game at halftime. Jovanovic gave TCU the lead back on an old fashioned three-point play about a minute into the second half.
Throughout the postgame press conference, TCU coach Mark Campbell used the word "proud" to describe how he felt about the team's performance and how far the group has come since a rash of injuries altered a historic season's trajectory. Over the course of a few weeks, the Horned Frogs have learned a different offense, welcomed four walk-ons, and adjusted to a new seven-player rotation featuring several players who had seen limited action prior to conference play.
"They are fighting and scrapping and giving themselves a chance, same thing at Texas Tech (last Saturday)," Campbell said. "We're gonna just keep working, keep going through the process of getting better."
The Horned Frogs will continue conference play at Oklahoma on Wednesday.
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