TCU Overpowers Houston Baptist in Season-Opener

Tuesday, November 9

Fort Worth, Texas

6:30 p.m.

TCU

1-0,0-0Big 12

Houston Baptist

0-1,0-0Southland

Houston Baptist

TCU

TCU Overpowers Houston Baptist in Season-Opener

11/9/2021 10:04:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Final Stats (PDF)Highlights Postgame Photo Gallery

Frogs net biggest season-opening win in five seasons

FORT WORTH – Four different TCU Horned Frogs scored in double-figures on the way to earning a season-opening victory against the Houston Baptist Huskies, 78-48, Tuesday night at Schollmaier Arena.

Lauren Heard led the way with a double-double, posting 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Aahliyah Jackson and Kayla Mokwuah scored 12 points each, and Tavy Diggs rounded out the double-digit scoring with 10 points on the evening. TCU out-rebounded the Huskies 58-35, which included a 21-8 effort in offensive boards. The Horned Frogs would go onto score 16 points in second chance efforts.

TURNING POINT
TCU and HBU traded buckets throughout the majority of the first quarter, but TCU rebounded in the second quarter, outscoring the Huskies 26-11 and taking a 39-23 lead into halftime. The Horned Frogs opened the frame with a 10-2 run and later led by as many as 17 points with just 43 seconds left to play in the period.

FROG FACTS
• TCU's starting line-up consisted of Okako Adika, Michelle Berry, Patricia Morris, Aahliyah Jackson and Lauren Heard.
• TCU registered its largest margin of victory (30 points) in a season-opener since a 48-point win over Incarnate Word in the 2016 season-opening contest.
• TCU won by 30 points or more for the first time since a 72-41 victory over Prairie View A&M in the opening round of the WNIT back on March 21, 2019 – a span of 59 games.
• TCU moved to 8-0 in season-openers in the Raegan Pebley era. It marked TCU's ninth straight season-opening win since the 2013-14 season.
• The Horned Frogs pushed its non-conference home winning streak to 30 straight games. TCU's last home loss to a non-conference opponent was back on Nov. 21, 2017 against Yale.
• TCU moved to 71-24 overall against non-conference teams under Pebley. That includes a mark of 59-14 in non-conference games played in the regular-season.
• TCU is 57-4 in all non-conference games played at home under Pebley.
• TCU's 18 assists mark the most in a game since netting 20 assists at West Virginia back on Feb. 20, 2021.
• The Horned Frogs tallied 14 steals in the game, the team's most since taking away 21 steals in the season-opener last season against Incarnate Word.
• Lauren Heard registered the 10th double-double of her career.
• Heard moved up to No. 9 all-time in career rebounds with 644 boards, surpassing Stay Francis' (1994-98) total of 637 rebounds.
• Heard tallied three steals in the game, giving her 229 career steals and moving up to No. 4 overall, past Helena Sverrisdottir (2007-11) and Natasha Lacy (2003-06), who both tallied 227 career steals.
• Heard scored 10 points or more for the 66th time in her career. She has totaled 10+ points in 48 of her past 52 games.
• Aahliyah Jackson scored 12 points, knocking down 4-of-8 from the field overall and 2-of-6 from three-point range.
• Jackson just missed surpassing her previous career-high of 13 points that she has tallied on two separate occasions.
• Tara Manumaleuga scored nine points in her Horned Frogs debut. She tied Jackson for the team lead with a pair of three-pointers made.
• Manumaleuga tied her career-high in scoring, matching a pair of nine-point efforts she scored as a member of the Arizona Wildcats. The last time she notched nine points came against Idaho back on Dec. 23, 2020.
• Manumaleuga set a new career-high with three steals. She came into the game with just four career steals total.
• Okako Adika scored four points and ranked second on the team with nine rebounds, as she too made her TCU debut. She was one rebound shy of her previous career-high, but did manage to tie a career-high with three steals on the evening.
• Tavy Diggs set a new career-high with six assists. Her previous career-high was four assists, which she dished out on four different occasions – most recently against Kansas back on March 11, 2021.
• Kayla Mokwuah set a new single-game high with the Horned Frogs, scoring 12 points on the night. She came up six points shy of her all-time career-high of 18 points, which she tallied as a member of the George Washington Colonials.