Just two years ago, TCU women’s basketball was last in the Big 12. This Sunday, the Frogs clutched their first Big 12 regular season title in school history to beat No. 17 Baylor Bears, 51-48.
“What an incredible stage and environment … in a winner take all 40-minute battle against your rival is as good as it gets, the effort, heart, and passion both teams played with was special,” said head coach Mark Campbell. “This accomplishment tops all of them, to win a league title for TCU and bring that trophy home is surreal.”
This title signifies a remarkable program turn around, from beating the team’s oldest rival five weeks ago for the first time in 35 years to doing it again for the regular season title.
“That bus ride from Waco back to Fort Worth last year was rough and was when the downfall of our season started, and this year it’s an entirely different team and we’ve added some amazing new pieces,” said Sedona Prince, who led the team with 16 points and 19 rebounds.
This was the team’s first time winning in Waco since 1990.
“Not a lot of people understand how hard it is to win a regular season championship; you have to dominate consistently over the course of the season. It says a lot about us and the level we’ve been able to play at, it’s been a battle,” said Hailey Van Lith. “We have been prepped for this moment, and I thought we did a great job navigating the crowd and the refs, calls and energy. We stay poised and executed.”
Van Lith added 14 points after Baylor consistently trapped her, forcing her into corners. Prince managed to match Baylor’s scoring on their own with a combined score of 21 points before the half.
An out-of-bounds ball left the Bears with just over one second to attempt a full court pass and shot, but they did not succeed, leaving the Frogs with a win.
TCU has now locked the No. 1 seed in the Big 12 Championship and has a double by into the quarterfinals. The team will face either No. 8 Arizona, No. 9 Colorado or No. 16 Houston at 1:30 on Friday at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.
