“I want to break a lot of records, and it was exciting to get that record (all-time leader in blocks shots). Hopefully I can keep it.”
— Sandora Irvin

Lady Frogs alter gameplan in win against Houston
By Kelly Morris
Staff Reporter

Before the TCU women’s basketball team played against Houston for the second-straight time Sundayat Daniel-Meyer Coliseum, head coach Jeff Mittie said the Frogs would probably have to play a little different type of game than it had played a week earlier in Houston.

“(Houston) came into this game saying take the post (position) out of it,” Mittie said. “We talked about that during the week that they might make that adjustment, and we would have more perimeter shots available.”

Houston did just that Sunday, but TCU (12-3, 2-0) was well prepared, winning the game, 78-53.

Senior guard Ashanti Nix, who had a career high seven steals in Sunday’s game, noticed the change right from the start of the game.

“From the very beginning they started doubling our post, so from there, we knew the outside was open,” Nix said. “In Houston they were worried about three-point shooting and tried to take that away, so today they tried to take away the post play.”

The Frogs beat the Cougars 61-49 Jan. 26 on the road, and senior forward Kati Safaritova erupted for a team-high 26 points.

TCU managed to hit 7-of-15 from the perimeter Sunday in the first half. For the game, the Frogs shot 45.8 percent from three-point range compared to the Cougars’ 22.2 percent.

Houston took its first lead of the game at 12-11 with 11:10 remaining in the first half, but it didn’t last long. The Frogs went on a 10-3 run, which opened up a 23-15 TCU edge.

In the first half, freshman guard Ashley Browning made her first four three-pointers and finished 4-of-5 in the half in just eight minutes of play. The Frogs then took a 40-27 lead into the locker room.

“(Browning) shot the ball excellent,” Nix said. “She is probably our best pure shooter other than (Safaritova). We just had to find her. She was wide open.”

But Mittie was still not comfortable.

“When you have a Chandi Jones, you always feel they can come back and are dangerous,” he said.

Jones led the Cougars in scoring with 25 points and was the only Houston player to reach double figures. Three players reached double figures in scoring for the Frogs.

After scoring just one point in the first 20 minutes of play, freshman forward Sandora Irvin tallied 13 points in the second half to lead the Frogs in scoring for the game. In just her 15th game at TCU, Irvin also broke the single season block record with 42 blocks.

“I didn’t know I got it, but it’s pretty exciting for me, only playing 15 games,” Irvin said. “I want to break a lot of records, and it was exciting to get that record. Hopefully I can keep it.”

The Frogs’ bench also outscored the Cougars’ bench 30-5 in the game. Mittie said the Frogs’ bench has been a huge part of their success this season.

“We feel like we can replace a scorer with a scorer,” Mittie said. “You never know who it’s going to be. In the first half it was Ashley Browning. I thought Gantt gave us a big lift from the perimeter in the game. Those two players stepped up big when we needed them to.”

The Frogs will face off against Cincinnati 7 p.m. Friday at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.

Kelly Morris
k.l.morris@student.tcu.edu

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