TCU
Charlotte
TCU Drops First Conference USA Game
1/25/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 25, 2002
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The TCU Lady Frogs had their seven-game winning streak and perfect Conference USA mark halted by the Charlotte 49ers by an 81-67 count on Friday night at Halton Arena. The Frogs now own a 14-4 record this season and a 4-1 mark in conference play.
"Charlotte played very well tonight," head coach Jeff Mittie said. "Give them a lot of credit. They got out to a good start and really kept it going. But we hand a definite hand in it. We played poorly tonight. It's terribly disappointing."
Charlotte (9-8, 1-3 C-USA) jumped out early on the Frogs, who had played just one road contest since Nov. 28, scoring the game's first seven points. TCU was held scoreless until the 16:33 mark of the first half. The 49ers connected on 8 of their first 12 shots to build a double-digit advantage at 21-9.
TCU was able to chip away at the lead prior to half, and trailed 40-35 at the break. Charlotte was 5-for-7 from three-point range in the stanza, and outrebounded the Lady Frogs 17-10. For the game, Charlotte owned a 36-27 advantage on the glass.
The Lady Frogs continued to fight back and tied the score at 49-49 on a Tiffany Evans' free throw with 10:38 left to play. The team's first lead came nearly one minute later, when a Grace Gantt three-pointer gave the Frogs a 52-50 advantage.
However, the 49ers reclaimed the lead and sealed the game from the charity stripe, connecting on 17 free throws in the last five-and-a-half minutes. Meanwhile, TCU scored just eight points over that time. Charlotte entered the game shooting just 63 percent from the free-throw line, but went 34-for-41 (.829) against TCU.
TCU is now 0-4 this season and 3-20 all-time under head coach Jeff Mittie when allowing at least 70 points. Charlotte came into the contest averaging just 57 points per game.
The Frogs play the second game of a four-game conference swing on Sun., January 27 against East Carolina. Tipoff is set for 2:00 p.m. (ET).
