The TCU women’s basketball team grabbed another conference win at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum, beating Air Force 61-31.

Freshman guard Natalie Ventress led TCU (14-13 overall, 7-5 Mountain West) with 17 points and six rebounds. Sophomore center Latricia Lovings pulled in a career high 11 rebounds and chipped in 6 points, while sophomore guard Meagan Henson had a career high 10 points.
Senior forward Jamela Satterfield and junior forward Dymond James led Air Force (5-22 overall, 0-12 MWC) with six points apiece. James also had seven rebounds.

Head coach Jeff Mittie said he thought Air Force struggled tonight while the Lady Frogs played OK.

“I really thought early Air Force was the more physical of the two teams,” Mittie said. “That was my concern at half time. We kind of drifted in and out of this game tonight.”

The Lady Frogs could not find the basket for the first two minutes of the game. Air Force forced a 24-second violation and hit a pair of free throws to take a 2-0 lead at the 18:33 mark.
Freshman forward Chelsea Prince put the Lady Frogs on the board at the 17:44 mark. Ventress tacked on a pair of free throws to give TCU its first lead.

The Lady Falcons tied it back up at 4, but TCU would regain the lead, 10-4. Air Force went on a 4-0 run to cut the lead to two.

Coming off the bench, Henson hit back-to-back 3-pointers, sparking a 14-0 TCU run. The Lady Frogs would keep their distance from Air Force for the rest of the half, taking a 36-13 lead into the locker room. 

Henson said she got good shot opportunities because her teammates penetrated and pulled in the defense.

TCU extended its halftime lead to 45-15 when Air Force started to make a small run. The Falcons capitalized on a TCU turnover and scored six unanswered points. Freshman guard Logan Mittie hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put the lead at 51-23.

Lovings hit consecutive layups, followed by buckets from junior forward Delisa Gross and freshman guard Jazz Parker. Gross hit the final bucket with 18 seconds left on the clock. Freshman guard Jimi Blagowsky hit a pair of 3-pointers for the final points for Air Force.

Coach Mittie said the team struggled all night, but it got better as the game continued. 

“You have some games like this throughout the year,” he said. “When the margin got big, I was still trying to get our group to just stay on course and our bench came in and played fairly well.”

The Lady Frogs will travel to New Mexico for their next conference match up.

Henson said the team will take tomorrow off to rest up for the Lady Lobos.

“I feel like maybe that will help us be more motivated and ready to play hard when we get there,” she said.