TCU Bounces Back with 72-68 Win at St. Mary's

Friday, November 26

Moraga, Calif.

4 p.m.

TCU

2-2,0-0Big 12

Saint Mary's (Calif.)

2-3,0-0WCC

TCU

Saint Mary's (CA)

TCU Bounces Back with 72-68 Win at St. Mary's

11/26/2021 8:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Final Stats (PDF)

Horned Frogs earn four-point victory on Black Friday

MORAGA, Calif. – Super seniors Michelle Berry and Lauren Heard both scored 16 points each to guide the TCU Horned Frogs to a 72-68 win over the St. Mary's Gaels in the first day of the St. Mary's Thanksgiving Classic at UCU Pavilion.

Berry set a new career-high as a Horned Frog, surpassing her previous career-best of 15 points, which she had tallied on four different occasions at TCU. Heard bounced back from a single-point scoring effort this past Sunday to score 15+ points for the 46th time in her career.

TURNING POINT
The Horned Frogs (2-2) led throughout the entire first half, but gave up its first lead to the Gaels (2-3) with just a little over eight minutes to play in the third quarter. St. Mary's would lead for just a combined 2:11 in the third quarter, but TCU took back the lead with a pair of free throws from Heard at the 2:14 mark of the frame and never looked back.

Berry drained her team-best third three-pointer with just a little more than a minute and a half to go in the third quarter and that proved to be the lead TCU needed to get through the final quarter. TCU's 11-point lead eventually dwindled down to just three points very late in the frame, as St. Mary's had to force fouls in order to get back into the game. TCU took advantage of the charity stripe and closed the game with a four-point victory.

FROG FACTS
• TCU Starters vs. St. Mary's: Lauren Heard, Michelle Berry, Okako Adika, Aahliyah Jackson and Patricia Morris … this starting line-up improved to 2-1 on the season.
• TCU scored 20+ points in two different quarters for the first time since its win over Houston Baptist in the season-opener. The 24 points scored in the fourth quarter is a new season-high for the Frogs in that period.
• TCU was out-rebounded 22-17 in the first half, but then turned around to pull down 21 boards to SMC's 17 in the final two quarters. SMC won the battle of the boards, 39-38, but was limited to just seven second-chance points in the game.
• The Frogs shot a season-best .394 percentage from the field on Friday.
• TCU totaled 13 steals and forced 22 turnovers, which led to 24 Horned Frog points … TCU forced 20+ turnovers for the second time this season.
• Berry scored 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting overall and 3-of-6 from three-point range … The 16 points are a career-best as a Horned Frog … her all-time career-high was a 38-point scoring effort when she played at Cal State Fullerton.
• Adika drained her first three-pointer as a Horned Frog … she finished the game with a season-best nine points on 4-of-7 shooting.
• Yummy Morris finished with 11 points, giving TCU a total of three players with 10+ points.
• Heard led the team with five assists … she now has 425 career assists, just 21 shy from moving up to No. 4 all-time and surpassing Jill Sutton's total of 445 assists.
• Heard also led the team with eight rebounds … she currently ranks No. 9 all-time with 664 boards, 12 back of Tiffany Evans' total of 676 rebounds.