The TCU Horned Frogs defeated the No. 13 NC State Wolfpack, 76-73, in a non-conference women’s basketball showdown at Schollmaier Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, on Sunday.
In what TCU (4-0) billed as its biggest non-conference home game in program history, it did not disappoint. The Horned Frogs beat a ranked team for the first time under coach Matt Campbell and the first time in 25 tries. The Wolfpack (2-2) lost to an unranked team for the first time in 56 games.
The game came down to the wire, even though TCU had a double-digit lead late in the contest. The Wolfpack were a Final Four team last year and received a huge game from Aziaha James, who scored 27 points off the bench.
But TCU countered with big games of its own.
Center Sedona Prince scored 31 points and grabbed 16 rebounds for the second 30-15 game of her TCU career. Before Prince arrived last season, that happened twice in 25 years.
Hailey Van Lith scored 18 points and dished out 10 assists. Madison Conner scored 11 points and Taylor Bigby added 10 points.
Saniya Rivers scored 16 points and Zoe Brooks added 15 points for NC State. It was an evenly-matched non-conference showdown between two teams that could see each other again in the NCAA Tournament.
Here are three takeaways from the game.
Who is Taylor Bigby?
She’s the one that scored what ended up being the basket that secured the game for TCU.
Her layup with eight seconds left gave TCU a three-point lead. It was a terrific take, too. The Horned Frogs spaced the floor and left the paint open for her to take it on the dribble and right to the basket. NC State had no one inside defensively, as even Prince had moved out to the perimeter and her defender followed her.
This team is filled with players that are known nationally. But, Bigby is a transfer with three years of experience who has been a part of a pair of Pac-12 Tournament champions and played alongside JuJu Watkins last season at USC. It’s just she didn’t have much room to produce. She averaged 4.6 points for the Trojans.
So how did she end up at TCU? Well, like Prince, she started her career at Oregon where Campbell was an assistant coach and lead recruiter at the time.
She’s starting alongside Prince, Conner and Van Lith and giving the Horned Frogs consistent production that is outstripping what she was able to do at USC. It came through in the clutch on Sunday.
Offense Going Fast
At Big 12 media days, Campbell said a focus this offseason was upgrading the Horned Frogs’ pace of play. He wants TCU pushing the ball, running the fast break and creating as many possessions as possible. When executed properly, that can be a real problem for opponents.
I don’t know that we saw that in full, but in stretches TCU looked the part. The Horned Frogs shot 73 times and 45% from the floor.
But this really stood out and it’s a big reason why TCU won. The Horned Frogs only turned the ball over four times. For a team that wants to play that fast, that’s incredible. It feels like an anomaly. But if TCU can keep that around 10 turnovers and play at that pace, they’ll lead game for nearly 30 minutes like it did on Sunday.
TCU at the Top 25
TCU was not ranked to start this season. Expect that to change on Monday.
The Horned Frogs have not had a good reputation nationally and I suspect voters took a “show me” attitude to determining whether they were worth a ranking.
Well, TCU showed them.
I go back to something Van Lith said earlier this week. It was an acknowledgment that even if the voters hadn’t gotten the message, the opponents had.
“They know about us,” she said.
Ignore TCU at your own peril. The Horned Frogs have what they need to do things no TCU team has done before. Get tickets for that game with South Carolina next month now.
The Horned Frogs have a big season ahead of them.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
