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Freshman forward Tiffany Evans goes up for a rebound in the Frogs’ 66-54 victory against San Jose State Feb. 27. With the victory, TCU clinched its first Western Athletic Conference title.

Women enter as favorites

By Kelly Morris
Associate Sports Editor

WAC tournament at a glance

TCU: An automatic bid removes all doubt. The Frogs don’t want to leave any doubt that they belong.

Hawaii: At 21-6, the Wahine are on the bubble for one of the at-large bids. A couple wins in Tulsa should help, but they’ve only played eight games outside Hawaii.

Southern Methodist: A win against TCU Saturday was a boost, but it won’t be enough to get them through the WAC Tournament.

Nevada: It’s time to start thinking National Invitation Tournament.

Rice: The winner of Rice/Nevada very well could get an invite to the NIT, but that’s as good as it gets.
Fresno State: The Bulldogs have been a disaster on the road all season. No reason to think that might change.

Tulsa: Even with the home crowd behind them, the Golden Hurricane women won’t be much fight against Hawaii.

San Jose State: With Texas-El Paso losing the play-in game, the revenge card is spent. So now, it’s just a first-round win for TCU.

For the first time in its history, the TCU women’s basketball team will enter the Western Athletic Conference Tournament as conference champions.

But after finishing the season Saturday with a 87-79 loss to Southern Methodist, head coach Jeff Mittie said the team could be doing a little better.

“I think we played (well) against SMU,” Mittie said. “But in the first half, we didn’t get the loose balls, and we couldn’t finish plays. We would have liked to finish the season stronger, but we did finish the season as regular-season champs.”

Even with Saturday’s loss, the Frogs still finished the season with an overall record of 21-7 and had just three conference losses. The Frogs set single-season records for wins with 21 and wins in a row with 11.

Senior guard Jill Sutton said the Frogs season-ending loss will in no way affect their momentum going into the tournament.

“Oh no, the loss won’t affect us,” Sutton said. “If anything, the loss will motivate us more. We just need to get that hunger back. I don’t think we have become complacent at all.

“We just need to realize that there’s so much more out there that we can get.”

That “more” could be the Frogs first appearance in the NCAA Tournament. TCU’s best chance to make it to the field of 64 is to win the WAC Tournament.

Sutton said the next three games are crucial if the Frogs want to make it that far.

“The next three games will be the most important part of our season,” Sutton said. “We’ve won the WAC — now we have to focus on the (WAC) Tournament. After that, we will hopefully go to the NCAA Tournament.”

To win the conference tournament, the Frogs will first have to get by San Jose State with game time scheduled for noon Wednesday in Tulsa, Okla. The Spartans are coming off a 66-55 victory against Texas-El Paso in Tuesday’s play-in game between the WAC’s two lowest seeds. On Jan. 7, the Frogs beat the Spartans, 72-63, in San Jose. TCU completed a series sweep against the Spartans Feb. 27 with a 66-54 win at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. With the victory, the Frogs clinched their WAC title.

The Frogs were eliminated in the first round of last season’s WAC Tournament after losing to Tulsa, 64-56.

Mittie said no matter who the Frogs face in the tournament, the team will have to work on both offense and defense to have success.

“Defensively, we are less predictable,” he said. “Offensively, we have to be stronger in the paint because it’s a more physical game come tournament time.”

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