TCU hits the road to face New Mexico on Sunday
2/23/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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RV/RV TCU at -/RV New Mexico
Date: Sunday, Feb. 25, 2007
Time: 4:00 p.m. CT
Location: Albuquerque, N.M.
Arena: The Pit (18,018)
TV: CSTV
Radio: 88.7 KTCU, gofrogs.com
Live Stats: gofrogs.com
Feb. 23, 2007
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The TCU women's basketball team will begin its final road trip of the regular season on Sunday with a national televised tilt against New Mexico at 4 p.m. CT.
The game will be played at The Pit (18,018) and will air nationally on CSTV (Direct TV channel 610, Dish Network channel 152).
Both RV/RV TCU (19-8, 9-4 Mountain West Conference) and New Mexico (19-7, 9-4 MWC) are tied for third in the MWC and both are considered bubble teams for NCAA Tournament bids.
Sunday's game will also be Senior Day for the Lobos, who will honor their senior class before and after the game. New Mexico will also honor TCU's seniors - Ashley Davis and Hanna Biernacka - prior to the game.
TCU is bidding for its first-ever season sweep of the Lobos after earning a 67-43 win in Fort Worth on Jan. 24. The Lady Frogs are 0-3 all-time at New Mexico and trail the Lobos in the all-time series, 5-3.
The Lady Frogs are catching New Mexico at a difficult time with the Lobos having won seven games in a row and nine of their last 10. New Mexico's lone blemish during its run is a 67-43 loss to TCU.
TCU is coming off a 61-50 setback to Wyoming that snapped the Lady Frogs' school-record 19-game home win streak and dropped them from being tied for first in the league to tied for third.
New Mexico has had eight days off between games and hasn't played since earning a 57-47 win at Air Force on Feb. 17.
Sunday's game on CSTV will have Ann Schatz (play-by-play) and Brenda VanLengen (analyst) on the call. CSTV is in over 52 million homes nationwide and is in its first year of a multi-year deal that gives CSTV exclusive rights to MWC sporting events. The audio broadcast can also be heard on 88.7 KTCU and www.gofrogs.com with Jeff Williams (play-by-play) and Marcy Girton (analyst) calling the action. Live stats from the game are also available on www.gofrogs.com.
SCOUTING NEW MEXICO
New Mexico is 19-7 overall and 9-4 in the Mountain West Conference. New Mexico has won seven straight games and nine of 10. The Lobos are 12-2 at home with both loses coming by a total of five points.
The Lobos annually rank among the nation's leaders in attendance and this season is no different with an average of 9,378 fans per game. New Mexico had a season-high 13,849 fans attend its game against UNLV on Jan. 27.
New Mexico ranks second in the league in scoring offense (65.5) and first in scoring defense (54.9). New Mexico is defeating opponents by 10.5 points per game, which ranks second in the league behind TCU (10.8).
Individually, senior guard Julie Briody leads New Mexico in scoring with an average of 15.2 points. Junior forward Dionne Marsh leads the team in rebounding (6.6) and ranks second on the team in scoring (14.2). Senior guard Katie Montgomery also averages 12.5 points.
New Mexico is coached by Don Flanagan, who has a record of 258-111 in 12 years. Flanagan has led New Mexico to five straight NCAA appearances and nine postseason appearances in 11 seasons.
THE SERIES
New Mexico leads the all-time series 5-3 and is 3-0 against the Lady Frogs in Albuquerque. TCU won the meeting earlier this season in Fort Worth, 67-43. TCU lost 87-63 in Albuquerque last season. In three games at New Mexico, TCU has never been closer than 12 points (69-57) in Albuquerque.
Date Site W/L ScoreJan. 10, 1997 Fort Worth W 77-55Feb. 8, 1997 Albuquerque L 57-69Feb. 21, 1998 Albuquerque L 55-74Feb. 26, 1998 Fort Worth L 45-81Mar. 3, 1999 Las Vegas L 62-74Jan. 11, 2006 Fort Worth W 76-67Feb. 12, 2006 Albuquerque L 63-87Feb. 22, 2007 Fort Worth W 67-43
THE ROARING 20s
With a victory over New Mexico on Sunday, TCU will have reached the 20-win plateau for the seventh time in school history and for the sixth time in the last seven seasons. TCU's highest win total is 25 in 2000-01 and 2003-04.
Season Record1980-81 20-192000-01 25-82001-02 24-72002-03 20-142003-04 25-72004-05 23-102006-07 19-8
THE WILD MOUNTAIN WEST
With just three games remaining in the regular season, the top of the Mountain West Conference is about as close as it can be with five teams all within two losses of each other. BYU leads the league by one-half game over Utah and just one game over New Mexico and the Lady Frogs. Wyoming is two games behind BYU with an 8-5 conference record.
TCU still can move ahead of New Mexico and BYU in the conference standings with head-to-head matchups still to go, but the Lady Frogs would need Utah to lose one of its remaining games at BYU and at home against Wyoming in order to avoid a tiebreaker scenario. A tiebreaker scenario would also take place if TCU wins out and BYU's only other loss came at TCU.
With less than a week to go, each of the top five teams could still win the conference title.
