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Women
advance to semis Women’s head basketball coach Jeff Mittie predicted earlier in the season that the Frogs would have to win 23 games to make it into the NCAA Tournament. The Frogs (22-7, 13-3 Western Athletic Conference) got within one victory of Mittie’s prophecy as they defeated the San Jose State Spartans (13-16, 4-12 WAC), 74-53, Wednesday in the quarterfinal round of the WAC Tournament in Tulsa, Okla. With the victory, TCU advances to the semifinal round, where it will play Rice at noon Friday at the Reynolds Center in Tulsa, Okla. Rice advanced to the semifinal round by defeating Nevada in overtime Wednesday. Although Mittie’s last prediction — 13 WAC wins would be necessary to capture the conference title — became a self-fulfilling prophecy, he said he isn’t taking his NCAA Tournament prediction for granted. “The only way to keep it out of the (NCAA Tournament selection) committee’s hands is to win 24 games,” he said on KTCU 88.7-FM. The Frogs will get an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament if they are able to win the WAC Tournament, which would give TCU 24 wins. Senior forward Janice Thomas scored 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds, and junior forward Kati Safaritova added 10 points for the Frogs. Although she scored a team-high 10 points, Safaritova said she wasn’t pleased with her performance. Mittie said conference tournament play is different from regular-season play, where Safaritova was named as a second team all-WAC performer. “She needs to be more physical, because officials in the tournament let more things go,” he said. “Safaritova is so hard on herself. She sees some games we praise as being bad games. “We need her to rebound, be active defensively and more decisive in the paint. When she does that, she is one of the best players in the conference.” Despite TCU’s leading scorers being post players, the Frogs took control of the game on scoring runs sparked by guards. Senior Jill Sutton connected on two three pointers, highlighting a 16-4 run, which led to a 18-7 lead with 9:46 remaining in the first half. Junior Ashanti Nix scored six points in the Frogs’ 14-2 run, giving them a 32-11 lead with less than six minutes remaining in the first half. TCU’s biggest lead came with 7:03 remaining in the game, when junior center Quinn Tedder made two free throws, making the score 69-40. San Jose State’s only lead was 3-2 at the 16:34-minute mark of the first half. The Spartans outscored the Frogs 12-to-4 in the paint, but TCU’s 12-of-26 (46.2 percent) three-point shooting continually upped its lead. Freshmen Tiffany Evans and Ebony Shaw each added nine points in their postseason debuts. “Ebony was huge, because we needed a lift off the bench,” Mittie said. “We were able to play her more minutes and rest some starters. Now we will be able to come back tomorrow and work on some things.” As far as what the WAC’s No. 1-seeded TCU still needs to work on, Mittie didn’t offer any predictions.
Rusty Simmons |