TCU
Colorado (WNIT)
Lady Frogs' season ends in OT at Colorado
3/30/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 30, 2008
BOULDER, Colo.--TCU's season came to an end in the quarterfinal round of the Women's NIT Sunday, as Colorado held on for a 96-90 overtime win over the Lady Frogs at the Coors Events Center.The Frogs led for most of the afternoon until CU pushed ahead with a 16-3 run to take a three-point advantage with only 3:49 remaining in the second half. The game bounced back and forth and was deadlocked at 74-74 with under a minute to play.
CU's Whitney Houston hit a jumper with only 4.8 seconds remaining that appeared to be the game winner, but TCU senior Helen Roden produced a big play to force overtime. Helen Roden recorded a putback layup to beat the buzzer off a missed shot by Moneka Knight to send the teams into the extra period.
TCU found itself in a tough situation in overtime, as the Buffs drilled a pair of early 3-pointers that forced the Frogs to play catch-up the rest of the way. The Frogs were able to cut the deficit to three points on a Lorie Butler-Rayford 3-pointer with 57 seconds remaining, but a 10-of-11 free-throw effort by CU in the extra frame proved to be too much to overcome.
Adrianne Ross recorded her third straight 22-plus-point effort to lead TCU with 26 points on 9-of-18 shooting. She also went 6-for-6 from the free-throw line and tied a season high with six boards in her final game in a Lady Frog uniform.
Four other Frogs scored in double figures, including Butler-Rayford (17), Knight (14), Roden (13) and Jenna Lohse (10). Knight, who tied her career scoring high, posted 10 of her points in the first half while going 4-for-4 from the field in the frame. Butler-Rayford pulled down nine boards to help TCU grab a 49-34 rebounding advantage on the afternoon.
Jackie McFarland had a huge game for the Buffs, scoring 30 points and pulling down eight rebounds. McFarland did most of her damage at the free-throw line, where she went 13-for-14. As a team, Colorado made 28-of-33 attempts at the charity stripe compared to TCU's 12-for-17 showing.
Aija Putina added a double-double for CU with 22 points and 10 rebounds, while Brittany Spears and Whitney Houston scored 15 and 13 points, respectively.
TCU jumped out to a big early lead and held a six-point advantage at intermission. The Frogs came ready to play, scoring the game's first eight points before Spears posted the Buffs' initial basket two and one-half minutes into the contest. Knight followed with a trey, the Frogs' fifth field goal in six attempts, to put her squad up nine early, 11-2.
The advantage grew to as many as 16 points in the opening eight minutes. Knight led the way by totaling 10 of the Frogs' first 20 points, including a pair of 3-point plays, one from behind the arc and another on a layup and foul shot.
While the Frog offense was sharp, the defense left CU searching for answers on the offensive end. The Buffs made only three of their first 11 shots from the field.
Colorado eventually found its offensive rhythm and rattled off an 11-0 run to cut TCU's advantage to only three points, 35-32, just prior to the four-minute media timeout. Sverrisdottir scored coming out of the break to stop the spurt, and Adriane Ross added five more quick points on a short jumper and strike behind the arc to push the Frogs back to a double-figure lead.
TCU led by six points, 44-38, at the start of the second half and extended its advantage to 10 with only 15 minutes to play. CU followed with a pair of quick 3-pointers before a Houston layup that brought the Buffs to within four points just over two minutes later.
The lead bounced back-and-forth between four and 10 points until the CU defense stiffened midway through the half. TCU was held without a field goal and could muster only three Ross free throws over a five-minute-plus stretch, while the Buffs went on a 16-3 run. Putnina drilled a trey with 4:27 remaining to give Colorado its first lead of the contest.
Sunday marked the final game for TCU's five-player senior class. The group of Butler-Rayford, Knight, Lohse, Roden and Ross finished its Frog tenure with 111 victories, tied for the second-most in program history over a five-year period.
