Lady Frogs even record
Basketball team beats Memphis, Saint Louis
By Drew Irwin
Skiff Staff

With its two victories this weekend, the women’s basketball team (12-12, 5-5 C-USA) pulled both its conference and overall records to .500, after starting conference play at 0-3.

“We knew that 0-3 wasn’t us,” sophomore forward Sandora Irvin said. “We struggled early, but we fought through it. We’re getting together as a team and getting ready for the conference tournament.”

Coming off a Feb. 11 loss at Tennessee and playing four games in a week, the Lady Frogs responded well against a smaller Saint Louis team Friday night, beating the Billikens 65-54 at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. Junior guard Ebony Shaw had a team-leading 14 points.

“I thought the team worked together really well (against Saint Louis),” head coach Jeff Mittie said. “They are clicking, and I thought they played well.”

The Memphis Tigers visited the Lady Frogs Sunday, and a tired TCU team pulled out a 61-53 win.

“I was concerned that they looked winded in the second half,” Mittie said. “They weren’t as locked in as they have been, so I’m glad to come out with a victory.”

Senior guard Tricia Payne came off the bench with 11 points, including 3-7 from 3-point range. Several other players, however, struggled. Irvin, who averages almost 12 points and 10 rebounds a game, only recorded six points and three rebounds against the Tigers.

“It was fatigue,” Irvin said. “But this week will be a good week to rest and get ready for next weekend because it’s going to be a big weekend.”

Irwin recorded her ninth double-double of the year Friday against Saint Louis and had 11 points and 12 rebounds. She was only a single block away from a triple-double, after blocking five shots in the final 2:30 minutes of the game.

In Sunday’s win against Memphis, Irvin only recorded two blocks, but her first one was historic. At 11:29 of the second half, Irvin recorded her 100th block of the season, making her the first Lady Frog to reach the century-mark in blocks for a season.

“It was great,” Irvin said. “It was something that I wanted to do from the beginning of the season.”

Mittie said the team played well defensively in both games. It was the 10th and 11th time this season that TCU has held teams under 60 points. The team has won all 11 of those games.

The Lady Frogs were able to succeed defensively by shutting down their opponents’ best players. TCU held Saint Louis’ Harmonie King, who averages 11.8 points a game, to only two points Friday.

TCU limited Memphis center Shannon Hamp to 15 points, after she found herself in foul trouble in the first half.

“We attacked Hamp early, and she got some early fouls,” Mittie said. “She’s much easier to defend when she’s on the sidelines.”

TCU will try to improve its 1-4 road C-USA record when it travels to Southern Mississippi and Tulane this weekend.

r.a.irwin@tcu.edu