TCU
Southern Miss
No. 24 TCU Flies Past Southern Miss 72-37
2/8/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 8, 2002
FORT WORTH, Texas - The TCU Lady Frogs tied a school record with their 13th home victory of the season in a 72-37 mauling of the Southern Miss Golden Eagles on Friday night. With the victory, TCU improved to 18-4 on the year, 8-1 in Conference USA play, and claimed sole possession of first place in the league standings.
After being held scoreless for the first four minutes, TCU jumped on Southern Miss, opening up a 16-5 lead midway through the first half. TCU's defensive pressure kept the Golden Eagles from setting up their offense, and the result was a 29-16 halftime advantage for the Lady Frogs.
The second half was more of the same. The Frogs, who led 50-30 with 9:42 left to play, put together an impressive 20-0 run over the game's next eight minutes to push the bulge to 40 points at 70-30. Southern Miss scored seven of the game's final nine points to account for the final score.
Sandora Irvin bucketed 19 points, her most since Nov. 24, on 7-of-13 shooting to pace TCU. She also tied for the team lead with eight rebounds and recorded a game-high four blocked shots. Kati Safaritova added 14 points and eight boards.
The Golden Eagles (10-13, 3-7 C-USA) committed 29 turnovers, just one shy of the most forced by the Frogs this season. TCU also dominated the glass, outrebounding the Lady Eagles 46-32. Southern Miss shot just 28.3 percent (13-for-46) for the game.
The 35-point margin of victory was the largest for the Frogs since a 103-23 shellacking of Prairie View A&M on Nov. 30. Southern Miss' 37 points were the second-fewest allowed by TCU this season. It was the ninth time this season that a Frog opponent has failed to score more than 50 points.
The Frogs remain at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum this weekend to host Tulane at 1:00 p.m. on Sun., Feb. 10. The game will be televised in the Fort Worth/Dallas metroplex on KFWD, Ch. 52 as part of the Conference USA Television Network.
