Women's Basketball News and Notes
11/1/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 1, 2001
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The TCU Lady Frogs move one step closer to officially opening the 2001-02 season with an exhibition game on Saturday night against the Abyhoj Basketball Club of Arhus, Denmark.
The Frogs enter the 2001-02 season on the heels of the most successful year in school history. Last year's squad claimed the program's first regular-season conference championship, first conference tournament championship, first 20-win season, first winning record in conference play, first votes for the Associated Press Top 25, first postseason tournament appearance, first NCAA Tournament victory, and first victory over a Top 25 team.
Now, TCU head coach Jeff Mittie, who was named the Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2000-01, must look to build on TCU's storybook season in a new conference, Conference USA.
TCU lost three key starters to graduation, including Jill Sutton and Amy Porter, the school's second and third all-time leading scorers. In addition, this squad will be without the services of Janice Thomas, the team's top rebounder each of the past two seasons.
However, the cupboard is far from bare. TCU's top scorer from last year's team, Kati Safaritova, is among six veterans back for another season in Fort Worth. And those six players (Safaritova, Ashanti Nix, Quinn Tedder, Ebony Shaw, Tiffany Evans and DeeDee Favors) are looking to turn "A Season of Firsts" into "The Second Go-Around."
Another veteran who was expected to figure heavily in the season's plans is senior guard Tricia Payne, who was voted the team's 2000-01 Most Valuable Player. However, the sixth-leading scorer in school history suffered a torn ACL in the first practice of the season and will miss the entire season.
TCU also has a class of newcomers that has been rated as high as fourth nationally. New faces Candace Baldwin, Ashley Browning, Grace Gantt, Maranda Hankerson, Sandora Irvin, Niki Newton and Lindsey Prewitt compose the class, and join transfer Joi Harris on the Frog squad.
"I like this team," Mittie said. "This group works as hard as any I've ever been around. We have a lot of talent out there and I feel like the team has the opportunity to improve as the year goes on."
In a preseason poll of the league's head coaches, TCU was picked to finish third among the 14 Conference USA schools. Joining a new league is always a challenge, as TCU will play each team for the first time.
The Frogs should be ready for the conference slate, however, after a challenging nonconference schedule that includes road games at Oklahoma and Oregon as well as home clashes with Rutgers, Arkansas and Southwest Missouri State.
In all, the Lady Frogs play a total of 15 games against 14 teams that made postseason play in 2001. TCU, fresh off a victory over 22nd-ranked Penn State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, now has experience in big games, and will look to further its level of national prominence in the 2001-02 campaign.
