TCU
Saint Louis
Lady Frogs Hold Off Saint Louis, 73-59
12/6/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 6, 2008
BERKELEY, Calif.—TCU opened its run at the Colliers International Classic with a 73-59 victory over Saint Louis Saturday evening at Cal's Haas Pavilion. With the win, the Lady Frogs move on to play No. 3-ranked Cal in Sunday's tournament championship at 5 p.m. PT.
The Frogs' season record improved to 7-2, as the squad successfully regrouped from Thursday's road loss at Fresno State. The squad also gave Head Coach Jeff Mittie a victory in his 300th game at the TCU helm.
Sophomore Helena Sverrisdottir led TCU with her second straight 20-point performance, as she scored a game-high 20 points to go with 11 rebounds. The effort also marked her third double-double this season.
Junior TK LaFleur added 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting, while junior Shayla Moore and sophomore Emily Carter chipped in 12 each. Moore's total marked a career best, while the two Frogs combined to go 14-of-15 from the free-throw line.
Similar to Thursday's contest, TCU surged out to an early double-digit lead before watching its opponent fight back in the second half. Unlike its matchup with Fresno State, the Frogs were able to hold off Saint Louis Saturday due in part to its success at the free-throw line, where they went 28-of-32 for the game and 19-of-20 in the second half. The points at the charity stripe helped the squad recover from shooting only 27.3 percent after halftime.
Trailing by 12 points at the half, Saint Louis exited the locker room ready to play. The squad scored 10 of the first 13 points of the period to climb to within five of the Frogs, 44-39. Shayla Moore followed by giving the Frogs their first field goal of the half with a trey from the right wing, but SLU continued to surge, cutting the lead to as few as two points with 12:42 to play.
TCU responded by scoring 18 of the game's next 23 points, with 10 coming on free throw. Sverrisdottir alone accounted for eight of the Frogs' final 20 points.
The first half was headlined three long runs, as TCU jumped on top of the Billikens early.
The Frogs ran out to a 13-point lead in the game's opening seven minutes on the strength of an 11-0 spurt. LaFleur went for seven of TCU points on a 3-pointer and two other jumpers. Saint Louis then responded with a 9-0 run of their own to slice the advantage to five points, 18-13.
After SLU cut the lead to four points later in the period, TCU surged out to its largest advantage of the half at 16 points. Junior Rachel Rentschler started a 12-0 Frog run at the free-throw line with a pair of shots, and sophomore Micah Garoutte recorded two baskets in the paint to bookend a Sverrisdottir layup. LaFleur then put the squad up, 34-18, with a short jumper with 6:37 to play in the half.
TCU held the Billikens scoreless for nearly four minutes while pushing out to the large lead, but SLU outscored the Frogs, 11-7, to end the half down by only 12 points.
TCU next faces the third-ranked Cal Golden Bears on Sunday evening before returning to Fort Worth.
Players Mentioned
