The Lady Frogs were upended by Oral Roberts, 78-74, in the opening round of the Women’s NIT at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum Thursday night, but seniors Helena Sverrisdottir and Emily Carter both made marks in the school’s record books during their final game in TCU uniforms.
With the loss, the Horned Frogs closed the year with a 22-11 record, while Oral Roberts improved to 22-10 and advanced to the second round of the WNIT. Overall, the Lady Frogs hoisted 33 triples Thursday night, which ranks No. 3 all-time in a single-game in program history, connecting on 12 of them.
Carter scored a game-high 30 points, tallying six assists, six rebounds and 16 three-point attempts against the Golden Eagles. The performance earned her the No. 1 rank all-time in TCU history for three-point field goal attempts in a single-game.
Sverrisdottir recorded the third triple double in school history Thursday night and moved into No. 2 all-time in career rebounds. She finished the game with 16 points, 10 boards and 11 assists, which tied her career high and ranks No. 4 all-time in a single-game in school history. Sverrisdottir, who closed her career with two triple doubles, joins former Horned Frog Sandora Irvin as the only other Frog in school history to post a triple-double in a single-game.
Other notables Thursday included sophomore Delisa Gross who posted her first double-double of her career with 11 points and a career-high 13 boards. Senior Micah Garoutte scored a season-high 12 points in her final outing to round out TCU’s top-performers.
TCU climbed its way back in the game midway through the second half on an 11-2 run, but didn’t have an answer for ORU’s Kevi Luper and Jordan Pyle. Luper, the nation’s leading scorer, totaled 26 points, while Pyle chipped in with 20 for the Golden Eagles.
Carter got the Frogs going early in the second half, draining a trey to give TCU a two-point lead, but ORU answered right back with a 6-0 run to regain the lead at the 15:02 mark of the second period.
Garoutte’s jumper from the corner brought TCU within two a few moments later, but the Golden Eagles buried another triple to move their lead back to five. The two teams would trade baskets until Gross connected on a triple of her own.
With Oral Roberts up 65-52, the Frogs went on a 4-0 run to close within nine at the halfway point, but ORU would beat the shot clock with 7 minutes, 24 seconds left in the quarter to halt the mini-run.
A Carter three was part an 11-2 run that helped TCU crawl back in the game at 67-63 with 5 minutes left in the contest. The Frogs continued to battle when Carter found Sverrisdottir deep in the lane to move the score to 72-66 in favor of ORU at the 3:45 mark of the second half.
With the score at 74-70 and only two minutes remaining in the contest, Carter drilled back-to-back free throws and a running jumper in the closing minute, but Oral Roberts was able to knock down some late free throws to preserve the win.
After forcing three-straight Oral Robert turnovers, the Lady Frogs jumped out to a 7-2 lead when Sverrisdottir found Gross wide-open underneath the bucket. The sophomore scored five of the TCU’s first seven points in the contest.
Following a 5-0 run by Oral Roberts, Carter derailed the mini-run, scoring on a fast-break layup with about 15 minutes to go in the first half.
Carter would score a couple of triples and Sverrisdottir added another trey at the 11-minute mark to push the Frog lead to 18-12 halfway through.
Oral Roberts then proceeded to jump out to a 23-20 lead until senior Rachel Rentschler found Garoutte for a backdoor lay-up.
Carter and Sverrisdottir both connected from deep a few moments later, but ORU kept pace, scoring off a turnover. Carter’s three from 45-feet out as time expired brought the halftime score to 38-37 in favor of the Golden Eagles.
Carter, Garoutte, Rentschler and Sverrisdottir all played their final game Thursday night against Oral Roberts.