West Virginia rolled to a 77-45 victory over TCU on Tuesday night, as the Mountaineers used their offense to beat the Horned Frogs at the WVU Coliseum.
West Virginia (11-4, 2-2) was able to start the game on a 6-0 run over the first four minutes, until TCU (6-9, 0-4) got on the board on a pair of free throws by Lucy Ibeh. The Mountaineers would keep their run going though, with Madisen Smith scoring five of the Mountaineers next seven points, including her second three of the first quarter to expand the lead to 13-2 with 4:23 left in the first quarter, prompting a TCU timeout.
West Virginia held the Horned Frogs without a made field goal until 1:27 was left in the first quarter, with Knisha Godfrey scoring their first bucket of the game. Overall in the quarter, WVU held TCU to four points, 1-11 shooting from the floor and six turnovers and the Mountaineers led 17-4 after one.
TCU was able to make some ground up on their deficit to start the third quarter, going on a 4-0 run to cut West Virginia’s lead down to single digits. After trading buckets for the next few minutes, TCU was able to get the Mountaineers lead down to seven with 4:30 left in the half after splitting a pair of free throws. A free throw line jumper a few minutes later by Knisha Godfrey cut the lead to four, and a Mountaineers turnover and layup had TCU down just one possession, before Madisen Smith hit her third three of the half to push the lead back to six.
Ultimately the Mountaineers would take an eight point lead into the half, up 31-23, after Jayla Hemingway split a pair of free throws with three seconds left in the half. West Virginia shot just 33% from the floor in the first half, but was able to hold TCU to 25% shooting with seven turnovers. Madisen Smith led the Mountaineers offensively, scoring 13 points on 4-5 shooting, including 3-3 from three.
West Virginia would get the first bucket of the second half, a Kyah Watson three from the corner that pushed the lead back to double digits. Back to back turnovers from the Horned Frogs led to two fast break layups for the Mountaineers, pushing the lead to 38-23, and forcing a TCU timeout with 7:50 left in the third quarter.
The run would ultimately get to 11-0, with West Virginia having their largest lead of the game at 42-23, before a Aaliyah Roberson layup to get TCU on the board for the third quarter. WVU would end the third quarter with their largest lead of the game at 57-30. West Virginia held TCU to 7 points in the quarter while forcing seven more turnovers and scoring 11 points off them.
West Virginia has struggled in the third quarter throughout the season so far, but not tonight out-scoring TCU 26-7 in the quarter. Madisen Smith spoke on what has changed in the team’s mentality in the third quarter over the past two games.
“Coming out with high intensity, we knew that in the past we had a let-down third quarter and we can’t do that the whole season so we gotta put our foot on the gas and keep going the whole game,” Smith said.
West Virginia started the fourth quarter on an 11-5 run that pushed their lead up to 33 with 4:26 remaining in the game, their largest lead of the game. The Mountaineers would cruise the rest of the way en route to a 32 dominant Big 12 victory.
West Virginia shot 45% from the floor and 36% from three, while holding TCU to 31% from the floor and 8% from three while forcing 19 turnovers. Madisen Smith led the way for the Mountaineers with 18 points on 5-9 shooting and 4-6 from three. Smith was joined by Savannah Samuel and JJ Quinerly in double figures, who scored 13 and 11 points respectively.
Photo by Aaron Parker
