Conner's Historic Night Paces TCU in Season-Opening Win Over Oral Roberts

Monday, November 6

Fort Worth, Texas

4 PM

TCU

1-0,0-0Big 12

Oral Roberts

0-1,0-0Summit League

Oral Roberts

TCU

Conner's Historic Night Paces TCU in Season-Opening Win Over Oral Roberts

11/6/2023 8:26:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score Mark Campbell Postgame Madison Conner and Sedona Prince Postgame

Her 30 points were the most in program history by a player making their TCU debut

FORT WORTH – TCU ushered in a new era of women's basketball in historic fashion on Monday in a 76-56 rout of Oral Roberts inside Schollmaier Arena.

Madison Conner finished with 30 points, 11 rebounds and four assists to lead the Horned Frogs in a game in which they never trailed. Connor's 30 points were the most by a player making their TCU debut in program history.

The junior was not alone in recording a double-double. Fellow transfer Sedona Prince gave TCU 15 points and 10 boards over an efficient 22 minutes, marking the first time in the modern era the Horned Frogs had two players post a double-double in their season-opener.

Monday's win also featured the TCU coaching debut of Mark Campbell, who earned his 40^th head coaching victory.

"The team had been chomping at the bit to finally get out here and get to compete and play against someone else," Campbell said. "October, it's kind of the dog days of the season. Those first five minutes, had a little bit of jitters, and after that, they settled in and played some pretty good basketball. Just really proud of them. We played good ball on both sides of the court. I think we defended the ball, and took care of the ball, and got good shots."

TCU led by as many as 29 points in the contest. Ball movement bred easy buckets all night, as the Horned Frogs assisted on 18 of their 27 makes while shooting 44 percent from the field. At the other end of the court, TCU minimized quality looks in transition for a Golden Eagles squad operating a 4-out, 1-in motion offense. The Horned Frogs held ORU to 23-72 (31 percent) shooting and limited the Golden Eagles to just three 3-point field goals.

The Horned Frogs assumed a double-digit lead within minutes. Jaden Owens, who dished out a game-high seven assists, scored TCU's first points of the 2023-24 campaign with a 3-pointer from the right key at the 8:24 mark of the first quarter. The triple ignited a 13-2 TCU start to the opening frame.

Conner swelled the lead to 18-4 around the three-minute mark of the quarter behind her first of three 3-pointers through the opening 20 minutes. The 5-11 guard then drained back-to-back 3-balls with 1:54 remaining in the first half to keep the Horned Frogs in front by double digits at 36-23.

She accounted for six of TCU's nine field goals from downtown.

TCU put the game to bed with haste in the third quarter. The Horned Frogs ripped off a 14-4 run over the first 5:11 of the period to take their first 20-point lead of the night at 52-32.

Prince bookended the spurt with layups inside the paint. She tallied nine of her 15 points and pulled down four rebounds in the quarter.

A 3-pointer by Tara Manumaleuga off a dime from Una Jovanovic (11 points, five assists) at the horn staked TCU to a 61-38 edge entering the final frame.

Conner's final pair of 3-pointers helped swell the margin to 76-47 with 5:40 to go in the contest before TCU emptied its bench.

Conner became the 20^th player in program history to score 30 points in a game and first since Tomi Taiwo poured in 33 vs. Texas Tech on Jan. 7.

Agned Emma-Nnopu joined Conner, Jovanovic, Owens and Prince in the starting five to comprise an all-transfer lineup. The 5-11 senior finished with seven points while registering career-highs in rebounds (five) and steals (three) across 29 minutes.

Aaliyah Roberson added four points and four rebounds as TCU's sixth player.

Prince led the way with three blocks DaiJa Turner and Manumaleuga added two rejections apiece off the bench.

TCU switched to a 2-3 zone in the second half but still out-rebounded the Golden Eagles 43-42.

The Horned Frogs connected on 13-17 (77 percent) of their attempts at the charity stripe.

Up Next

TCU continues its season-opening five-game homestand at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday vs. Texas A&M-Kingsville. The game will air on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.

Team Notes

TCU has now won 11 consecutive season and home-openers dating back to the 2012-13 campaign.
TCU improved its all-time record to 7-4 vs. Oral Roberts.
The Horned Frogs are now enjoying a series-best three-game winning streak vs. the Golden Eagles following Monday's win.
The Horned Frogs improved to 89-50 all-time inside Schollmaier Arena and 24-4 in November games inside the venue.
TCU's nine 3-point field goals were its most in a season-opener in a decade. The Horned Frogs finished with an identical tally in an 86-47 win against Louisiana-Monroe on Nov. 9, 2013.
TCU turned Oral Roberts over five times in the first quarter and held the Golden Eagles without a 3-pointer in the first half.

Individual Notes

Conner's 30-point outburst marked her second game finishing with 20-or-more points and sixth career double-digit scoring performance.
Conner's half-dozen 3-pointers were a career-best as were her 11 rebounds.
Conner recorded the first double-double of her career.
Prince finished two rebounds shy of matching her career-high on the boards. She snagged a dozen rebounds on March 3, 2022 in her second-and-final season on the court at Oregon.
Prince's double-double was the third of her career.
Four of Prince's 10 rebounds came on the offensive glass.
Jovanovic dished out five-or-more assists for the 10^th time collegiately.
Owens has now finished with five-plus assists in 21 of her last 33 games dating back to the 2022-23 season. Her seven-assist effort marked the seventh game of her five-year career in which she's racked up at least seven assists.
Campbell became the sixth Horned Frog head coach to win his TCU debut. TCU head coaches are now 6-2 all-time in their first game donning the purple and white.
TCU was without Paige Bradley, Knisha Godfrey and Sydney Harris due to injury.