Lady Frog History Rewind: Frogs Break Through
9/24/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Sept. 24, 2009
With the start of the 2009-10 NCAA basketball season rapidly approaching, GoFrogs.com has decided to take a look back at the last 10 years of TCU women's basketball, the most successful period in school history. Jeff Mittie begins his second decade at the helm of the Lady Frog program this season, so before the Oct. 16 official start of practice we will take a look at some of the key moments in TCU's rise to national prominence.
LADY FROG HISTORY REWIND: FROGS BREAK THROUGH
TCU entered the 2000-01 season without a conference title, had never won more than 16 games or even reached an NCAA Tournament in its history. While the attitude surrounding Lady Frog basketball changed with the hiring of Jeff Mittie prior to the 1999-2000 season, the results became truly tangible in the coaching staff's second season on campus.
The 2000-01 Lady Frogs produced a 25-8 overall record, easily the best in school history, and a 13-3 showing in Western Athletic Conference play helped bring home the team's first-ever conference championship. The squad followed up its regular-season title by sweeping through the WAC Tournament in Tulsa, Okla., including a 66-58 victory over league runner-up Hawai'I in the championship game. The win helped clinch another first for the program--a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
Yet another program first followed one week later, as TCU, a No. 11 seed in the NCAA bracket, upended 22nd-ranked Penn State, 77-75, in the first round of the NCAA East Regional in Ruston, La. The victory marked the first win over a ranked team in program history. The game was a thrilling back-and-forth affair, but the Frogs were able to survive after trailing in the final minute of action.
While TCU was bounced from the NCAA field the next round following an 80-59 setback to sixth-ranked Louisiana Tech, the program's foundation for future success had been set. The Frogs would go on to reach each of the next six NCAA Tournaments, as well as seven of the following eight brackets capped by last season's No. 10-seeded berth in the Raleigh Regional.
Mittie earned his first of two straight conference Coach of the Year awards following the Lady Frogs' successful 2000-01 campaign, while Kati Safaritova and Jill Sutton earned spots on the All-WAC Second Team.
2000-01 Leaders: Kati Safaritova--12.2 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 1.4 apg; Tricia Payne--11.2 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.7 apg; Janice Thomas--9.3 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 0.9 apg; Jill Sutton--8.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 3.2 apg; Amy (Sutton) Porter--8.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.8 apg.
Next week: 2001-02; TCU makes a run toward its second-straight league championship in its first season as a member of Conference USA.
