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Friday,
February 20, 2004 |
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Lady
Frogs to face C-USA powerhouses
The
women’s basketball team faces its biggest test of
the year.
By
Brent Yarina
The
Lady Frogs got the ball rolling for TCU basketball with
a win at Charlotte on Sunday and then the men’s team
carried that momentum into Tuesday night’s upset
victory against No. 10 Louisville. Now, it’s the
ladies’ turn again.
“It was a great week for TCU,” head coach Jeff
Mittie said. “We were on national TV on Sunday at
Charlotte. Our men were on national TV Tuesday. Both of
us got big wins. We just got to keep it rolling this weekend.”
That won’t be an easy task for the Lady Frogs, however.
Rolling into Daniel-Meyer Coliseum this weekend will be
two Conference USA rivals starting with Marquette (18-6,
8-3 C-USA) today and No. 11 DePaul (22-2, 10-1 C-USA)
Sunday afternoon.
It takes more than two quality conference opponents to
get Mittie nervous about any game, even when a fourth
consecutive C-USA title is on the line.
“Our program is used to playing in these types of
games,” he said. “I look at this as a good opportunity.
While it’s a huge challenge, this is an opportunity
for us to make a statement to the (NCAA selection committee)
and make a statement to all the other teams. You play
all year to get to the point where you have a chance to
win a conference championship. We’re down to three
games and we have a chance at a conference championship.
We’re just happy to be in this position.”
Mittie said if the offense continues to fire on all cylinders,
there shouldn’t be too many worries for the remaining
regular season schedule.
“Offensively we’re playing real well,”
Mittie said of his team, which has scored in triple-digits
the last two games. “In the last two weeks, this
team has really grown up a lot. I think they’ve withstood
some tough games, and I think we’re looking forward
to the last three games.”
Junior forward Sandora Irvin said she is happy with the
team’s recent performances and that the offense is
ready to lead the Lady Frogs past this most recent obstacle.
“I’m real happy with how we’re playing
right now,” Irvin said. “We played really well
at Charlotte and scored 100 points. We don’t do that
too often.”
She said if the team has any hopes of winning the regular
season C-USA championship, now is the time they must bring
their best to the court.
“If we want to win conference, it’s all up to
these final three games against the top teams in our conference,”
Irvin said. “We basically have to win out for any
chance to win conference.”
Mittie said even though Marquette and DePaul run different
defenses, a zone and man-to-man, respectively, he doesn’t
think it will present any problems for his young team.
“They definitely have different styles,” Mittie
said. “You would maybe worry about that early in
the year because you haven’t been through all of
it. But at this stage, we have seen everything we are
going to see.”
Mittie has more important things to worry about than facing
two different defenses, like facing DePaul’s center
Khara Smith, who is averaging 23.4 points and 12.8 rebounds
a game.
“Along with (Sandora), those are probably the best
two centers in the conference,” he said. “It
will be a great matchup.” |
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