TCU
Texas-Arlington
Close, but TCU Lady Frogs win sixth straight
12/10/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 10, 2006
FORT WORTH, Texas - Less than a month ago, a frustrated TCU squad returned home from the BTI Classic disappointed after dropping a heartbreaker to Arizona in overtime. According to senior Ashley Davis, the Lady Frogs knew a six-game home stretch was on the horizon and they wanted nothing less than to win every contest.
Challenging? Yes. Impossible? No.
Behind the scoring of Davis and Adrianne Ross, the Lady Frogs allowed their goal to come true Sunday afternoon at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. Davis and Ross combined to score 45 points in leading TCU to a close 71-67 win over UT-Arlington (3-6).
The victory marked the sixth-straight win for the Lady Frogs and improved their record to 6-3 on the season.
"It feels good to have won this stretch of six home games," said Davis, who finished with 21 points, five rebounds and no turnovers. "We took it one game at a time and it definitely took everyone contributing their part."
It wasn't exactly the best performance for the Lady Frogs, but they did just enough in spurts to walk away with the victory.
"UTA is dangerous because they are a pretty darn good basketball team," TCU head coach Jeff Mittie said. "This was one of those days that I was happy to get away with a win."
Ross led the charge, tying her career-high with 24 points for the third time this season. She added three steals, four rebounds and was 6-of-8 from the free throw line. Moneka Knight had six assists and Lorie Butler-Rayford paced the Frogs on the glass with eight rebounds.
"Both Ashley and Adrianne are great players and they did what I expected of players that have been in this system for four years," said Mittie. "I thought Moneka (Knight) played solid. We were very fatigue today, but it's typical for this time of the year with finals."
It wasn't the kind of high-scoring, fast-paced show that the Lady Frogs have put together in recent games. But for a team that had to learn how to win down the stretch, the victory was a welcome sign of improvement.
The Mavs' drained six 3-pointers in the first half and TCU found itself down by 13 points (36-23) with 4:51 remaining in the opening period before the Lady Frogs crawled their way back into the game.
Four different Frogs scored as TCU went on a 16-2 run and took a one-point lead (39-38) after Ross drained a three with 44 seconds on the clock.
"I reminded the team during a timeout (when we were down) that there isn't 13-point plays," said Mittie. "I told them that we had to step it up defensively because UTA was on fire shooting. During that stretch, our defense created our offensive points."
With 17 seconds left before halftime, UTA's Kiarra Shofner hit a jumper and the Mavs took a one-point lead (40-39) at the break.
The second half remained tight, with the Mavericks seemingly answering every run the Lady Frogs threw at them. The game was tied in the second half on four occasions and the lead changed three times.
After Ross reeled off a 3-point play with 4:02 left, freshman Danielle Nunn and Davis followed suit with back-to-back lay-ups to give TCU a lead it wouldn't relinquish.
UTA crept back within two points (69-67) with 19 seconds remaining, but Knight and Nunn stretched the lead back to four with two made free throws.
Maryann Abanobi had 14 points and led four UTA players in double figures.
Nunn finished with nine points and Knight added seven, respectively.
TCU will travel to No. 8 Georgia on Dec. 19 for a 1:30 p.m. contest.
