Despite a slow offensive second half, TCU women’s basketball beat Cornell 59-49 with help from senior Jaycee Bradley, who had 15 points in the game.
“We had a strong start,” head coach Raegan Pebley said. “We took care of the ball. [Cornell] changed their defenses up a lot. That was a positive for us today. It was a physical game and I liked how we embraced the physical play.”
The Horned Frogs started off strong in the first quarter, going 4-for-4 on field goals to open with a 10-5 lead.
Things slowed down for TCU, as they suffered a scoring drought that would last 3:07. The Frogs ended the first quarter on top with a slim 19-16 lead.
The Frogs got back to their strong offense in the second quarter by going on two 7-0 runs in the quarter. Bradley led the team with 12 points in the first half.
Offense was hard to come by in the third quarter for the Horned Frogs as they scored just five points. The Horned Frogs went on two scoring droughts in the quarter, with the second one lasting over five minutes of play.
“I wasn’t really happy with how we came out in the third, just really flat and a little too passive,” Pebley said.
Although TCU saw offensive struggles, the team never lost the lead.
Cornell cut what was a 15-point deficit down to three points, trailing 49-46 with 5:37 left to play. TCU guard Kianna Ray then drained a three-pointer at the other end to stop the Big Red in their tracks.
Cornell got it back down to a four-point deficit in on its next possession, but TCU closed out the final 3:22 of the game on a 7-1 run to seal the win.
Bradley ended the night with 15 points, three rebounds and two assists.
Ray added a season-high 14 points and nine rebounds and guard Lauren Heard had her second straight double-digit game with 13 points and a team-leading four assists.
“We had two really good wins over experienced teams,” Ray said. “Winning these games but knowing we have so much to improve on is really promising.”
Yummy Morris had a career-high in blocks with four.
TCU will close out its season-opening three-game homestand at 6:30 p.m. this Thursday against Nicholls State.
