Lady Frog History Rewind: New Conference, Same Result
9/29/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Sept. 29, 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.
Previous Highlights
Sept. 25 - Frogs Break Through
NEW CONFERENCE, SAME RESULT
The 2001-02 season saw TCU switch conference affiliations to Conference USA after a five-year run in the WAC. Those five seasons, capped by league regular-season and Tournament championships in the 2000-01, saw the Lady Frog program grow by leaps and bounds.
TCU continued to raise its profile in the national pecking order in head coach Jeff Mittie's third season despite the challenges presented by its new conference. While the Frogs had only seven other teams to compete with in their final season of WAC play, Conference USA featured 14 squads. Despite the expanded competition, TCU once again came out on top with a 12-2 league record that placed one game ahead of Houston in the season's final standings. A 24-7 overall record at season's end gave the program a two-year mark of 49-15, which stands to this day as the school record.
A thrilling 76-72 win over DePaul in the next-to-last game of the regular season clinched a share of the C-USA title, and the Frogs became the sole champions with a 72-57 win over Marquette two days later. Despite being shocked in the second round of the conference tournament during an overtime loss to Tulane (80-76) in Chicago, TCU still was able to earn the program's second NCAA Tournament berth, this time through an at-large bid.
The ninth-seeded Frogs were pitted against No. 8 seed Indiana in the first round of the East Regional, and the squad's success in the NCAA Tournament a year earlier carried over. TCU suffocated the Hoosier scoring attack during a 55-45 victory in Durham, N.C., holding a team to fewer than 50 points for the eighth time overall during the season. The win made the program 2-for-2 in NCAA First Round games and set up a clash with No. 1 seed Duke on its home court.
TCU found itself in a hole early against the Blue Devils and never was able to recover during a 76-66 in the following round. Although Duke led by as many as 16 points in the second half, the Frogs did respond to make the Devils sweat out their victory. Ebony Shaw hit a 3-pointer with 4:11 to play to cut TCU's deficit to 59-51 and three other times the lead was cut to eight points. Duke was clutch at the free-throw line in the end, going 10-for-12 in the final 72 seconds to eliminate the Frogs.
A second-straight season with a conference championship and NCAA appearance further cemented the Frogs on the national stage, and the awards were beginning to pile up. Kati Safaritova became the first TCU player ever to be named first-team all-conference, while freshman Sandora Irvin announced her arrival as one of the nation's top young talents with Conference USA Freshman of the Year honors. The Frogs were awarded for their solid season with the No. 25 spot in the final ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, the first time the program ended a season included in the national ratings.
2001-02 Leaders: Kati Safaritova—13.9 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 2.0 apg; Sandora Irvin—10.8 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 2.7 bpg; Ebony Shaw—8.6 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 1.2 apg; Grace Gantt—8.6 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.4 apg; Tiffany Evans—8.2 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 2.0 apg; Ashanti Nix—5.9 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 3.4 apg
Next Up: TCU rallies from a slow start for yet another memorable season in 2002-03.
