The West Virginia Women’s Basketball team traveled to TCU to take on the tenth ranked TCU Horned Frogs in hopes to big up back-to-back top 15 wins. A win would also help put the Mountaineers in contention to be a top four seed in the NCAA Tournament and host the first two rounds.
The Mountaineers got things started right away with a three from Kylee Blacksten and a layup by Shaw, but would go cold from the field for the rest of the first quarter.
The Horned Frogs would get it done both from both the paint and from three, ending the first quarter on a 12-2 run and leading 20-9 after the first ten minutes of play. 6’7 senior, Sedona Prince, did everything for TCU in the first quarter, tallying 6 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 blocks.
West Virginia started the second quarter on a 8-2 run to cut into TCU’s lead. However, the Horned Frogs would respond with a pair of buckets before the media timeout and continue to lead, 24-17 midway through the second quarter.
JJ Quinerly was able to break into the scoring column in the second quarter after a scoreless first quarter with a pair of buckets, scoring four of her team high 13 points in the game.
Once again however, the Horned Frogs dominate the quarter after the media timeout, going on a 10-2 run and forcing WVU to call a timeout now trailing 32-19.
The Mountaineers would battle back and fourth but every time the Gold and Blue got something going, TCU was able to answer right back. The Horned Frogs would end the half on another big run, this time 11-1 to take a 39-20 lead into the break.
Hailey Van Lith led all scorers with 14 points at the half to combine with Prince’s 10. Sydney Shaw, Jordan Harrison, and Quinerly all had 4 points for WVU at the break.
After WVU was unable to affect TCU at all in the first half with their press defense, only forcing six turnovers, the Mountaineers would make the Horned Frogs call an early timeout just 44 seconds into the third quarter after a pair of forced turnovers.
However, every time West Virginia would get any sort of grip on the momentum, TCU would immediately follow it up with an answer of their own. After a 7-0 run in the third quarter, WVU got the lead down to 13 points which is as close as they would get the rest of the game.
In the fourth, it was Van Lith taking over, scoring scoring 10 of her 26 total points on 8-12 shooting to put TCU up 22, their largest lead of the game.
It was yet another disappointing offensive performance on the road for WVU who continues to struggle to shoot the ball away from the Coliseum. As a team, the Mountaineers shot just 18/59 (30.5%) from the field and 3/18 (16.7%) from three.
West Virginia falls to 3-5 on the road in Big 12 play and will continue to have an uphill climb towards hosting an NCAA Tournament game. The Mountaineers will next be in action against Utah at home on Feb. 26 at 7:00 p.m. ET.
