TCU
BYU
Lady Frogs down BYU, stay alive in MWC race
2/5/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 5, 2008
Final Stats | Quotes | Notes
View the post-game press conference via All-Access
FORT WORTH--TCU concluded the first half of its Mountain West Conference schedule with a 73-54 victory over BYU Tuesday evening at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. The victory marked the Frogs' third straight win and pulled the squad into a tie for second place in the MWC standings.TCU improved to 13-9 overall and 6-2 in MWC games, while BYU fell to 11-9 and 5-3 in the league.
Two freshmen led the Lady Frogs Tuesday, as Micah Garoutte and Helena Sverrisdottir each totaled 14 points. Sverrisdottir recorded her first career double-double, as she added a personal-best 11 rebounds. Garoutte, who shot 6-of-10 from the field, broke her previous scoring high of nine points registered against Utah.
Adrianne Ross and Lorie Butler-Rayford also hit double-figures with 13 and 11 points, respectively. Butler-Rayford pulled down seven rebounds, marking her 17th game with at least six this season.
The Frogs played another solid defensive game Tuesday while stepping up their rebounding against the league's top rebounding team. The efforts in both areas helped neutralize a hot-shooting Cougar squad that shot nearly seven points higher (48.1 to 41.3 percent) than TCU for the game.
The Frogs out-rebounded the Cougars by a 36-28 margin and registered 14 offensive boards to help record a 15-3 advantage in second-chance points, while they also continued to play the pressure style that has helped win the turnover battle in 17 games entering the evening. TCU reeled in 21 BYU turnovers Tuesday while committing only 12 themselves to help post a 21-4 advantage in points off turnovers.
TCU limited BYU's Mallary Gillespie-Carling, the MWC's fourth-leading scorer, to only 11 points on 5-of-13 shooting. Mindy Nielson led the Cougars with 14 points.
The Frogs were able to capitalize on several Cougar miscues in the first half, scoring 12 points off 12 turnovers, to take a nine-point lead at the break. BYU was able to keep itself in the game thanks to a hot touch from the floor, as the team went 14-of-26 from the field in the opening period.
TCU ran out to an early 10-point lead in the game's opening seven minutes. Butler-Rayford scored seven quick points with Ross adding five of her own. Both Lady Frogs drilled 3-pointers to help the squad jump quickly out on top. Ross' shot made the score 18-8 with 12:50 to play in the half.
Garoutte helped push the Frog advantage to 15 points by scoring seven points during a 13-4 run in less than three minutes. Garoutte, aided by several good feeds by teammates, hit three buckets down in the low post and added a free throw during the stretch, and Emily Carter nailed her first 3-pointer to complete the run while pushing the score to 31-16.
BYU responded with eight straight points to cut the lead to seven, and eventually as low as six, but Carter drilled another trey to help propel the Frogs to a nine-point advantage at intermission.
The Frogs held the Cougars to only one field goal in the first eight minutes of the second half while pushing their lead back to 15 points, 46-31. The two teams combined to go only 3-of-16 from the floor during the stretch, but TCU managed three trips to the free-throw line to help boost its lead.
Sverrisdottir pushed the lead past the 20-point mark for the first time with consecutive 3-pointers with just under six minutes remaining, while Garoutte followed with another layup on the next TCU possession for a 60-38 lead.
TCU returns to the road Saturday, as it beings the second half of its conference schedule with a 3 p.m. CST tip-off at San Diego State.
