TCU
UNLV
Biernacka, Lady Frogs dominate in league opener against UNLV
1/3/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 3, 2007
Final Stats|Printable Box Score
FORT WORTH, Texas - After winning its last two games by a combined 45 points, Jeff Mittie's Lady Frogs didn't disappoint in the team's Mountain West Conference opener. Led by senior Hanna Biernacka's team-season-high 26 points, TCU (11-4, 1-0) ran away with an 88-63 victory over UNLV (6-7, 0-1) Wednesday afternoon at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.
The victory marked the 11th win in 12 tries for the Lady Frogs, who won by their largest point margin of the year.
"It's easy to forget that Hanna (Biernacka) is just six games into the season," said Mittie, referring to the fact that Biernacka missed the start of the season because of NCAA transfer rules. "She has not played in a year, so it took her a few games to get into the swing of things. The players are starting to read her and she is getting into more of a rhythm."
Biernacka (pronounced BEER-nots-ka) and the entire Lady Frogs squad played a near perfect first half, shooting 63.9 percent from the floor for the 49-31 advantage at the break. Biernacka, a LSU transfer, was an astounding 9-of-10 from the floor in the first half for 18 points.
Adrianne Ross, Ashley Davis, Lorie Butler-Rayford and Biernacka all reached double digits for TCU. Butler-Rayford was close to her fourth double-double of the year with 10 points and an impressive eight rebounds. Ross posted her 14th double-digit scoring effort of the season with 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting. She also had four rebounds and Davis tallied 13 points, respectively.
"We probably played the best first half we've played in awhile," Mittie said. "One of our assistants joked that maybe we should play all our games this early in the day."
TCU had a noon start time, the Lady Frogs' earliest of the season, because the men's team is scheduled to open its league schedule tonight against New Mexico.
Despite leading by 18 points at the break, TCU went cold at the start of the second period. The Lady Rebels opened the period on an 11-0 run and cut the Lady Frogs' lead to just seven points (49-42) with 16:48 left in the game.
After trading baskets, UNLV got within seven points (53-46) again at the 13:20 mark but TCU answered back when Butler-Rayford jumpstarted a 17-5 spurt that gave the Lady Frogs a 19-point lead, 70-51.
The Lady Rebels had no response to TCU in the paint, as the Frogs rang the lead up to as much as 27 points with 2:44 remaining.
The Lady Frogs outscored UNLV 50-24 in the paint and committed a season-low 14 turnovers. TCU played all 13 eligible players and freshman Danielle Nunn came off the bench for seven points and six rebounds.
Junior guard Moneka Knight recorded a balanced effort for the Lady Frogs consisting of seven points, four assists and three steals.
TCU shot a season-high 51.4 percent in the game and the Lady Frogs' point total was the most scored against UNLV all season.
Latosha Pace and Kisha Lee had 16 points a piece for the Lady Rebels.
The Lady Frogs will continue conference play on Saturday afternoon as they host Colorado State at 2pm.
