TCU
SMU
Lady Frog Rally Falls Short vs. SMU
12/30/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 30, 2008
Final Stats | Quotes | Notes
FORT WORTH—TCU trailed SMU by as many as 14 points before rallying in the game's closing minutes, but the Mustangs held off the Lady Frog comeback bid, 79-75, Tuesday evening at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.
The loss, the third-straight for the Frogs, dropped TCU to 8-5 as it enters its Mountain West Conference schedule. SMU improved to 7-6.
Mustang guard Jillian Samuels hit what proved to be the game-winning 3-pointer with her team trailing by two points with 22 seconds remaining to steal the win from the Frogs, who had taken a 75-74 lead on a layup by sophomore guard Emily Carter on the previous possession. A steal by SMU forward Haley Day on TCU's final push down the floor sealed the decision.
TCU earlier had grabbed its first lead of the second half, as well as its first since the 10:16 mark of the first period, with the help of an old fashioned 3-point play by sophomore guard Helena Sverrisdottir with 1:13 remaining. The play capped an 11-2 TCU run after the team found itself trailing by eight points with 2:53 left.
Sverrisdottir led TCU with season highs of 22 points and 13 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season. She scored 14 in the second half alone while adding five assists, each after intermission. Junior guard TK LaFleur also reached 20 points for the fourth time this season, as she overcame a slow start from the floor to sink seven of her final eight shots for a 7-of-14 effort. She made 4-of-5 shots from beyond the arc in the second half while helping fuel TCU's comeback bid.
Sophomore guard Emily Carter tied a career high with 15 points, while sophomore forward Micah Garoutte fell just shy of her first career double-double with nine points and a career-best 10 rebounds.
A shaky first-half performance by TCU ended up as just one of many differences in the game. The Frogs shot only 24.2 percent in the first half before regrouping with a 50.0 percent effort in the second, but they also were out-rebounded by a 49-38 margin. SMU was able to outscore the Frogs by a wide margin in second-chance points, 27-11, after grabbing 20 offensive rebounds.
TCU opened the game with an 8-0 run to jump out in front early. The Frogs held SMU scoreless until the 16:50 mark, when forward Alice Severin earned a putback off an offensive board. Garoutte scored four points during TCU's early run on a pair of free throws and a fadeaway jumper in the paint.
Despite TCU's early lead, SMU quickly turned the tables on the Frogs by moving out to an eight-point advantage of its own, 22-14, with 8:40 remaining in the half. A trey by forward Morgan Shell capped a 12-0 Mustang run, as the Frogs went scoreless for three and a half minutes until Carter took a steal downcourt for a layup.
The deficit reached as many as 14 points in the first half, but back-to-back buckets by Sverrisdottir and LaFleur in the closing 30 seconds cut the figure to 10. LaFleur's score came on a steal that she took up the court for a layup just before the buzzer.
With the non-conference season now behind it, TCU returns to the road next week for the start of Mountain West Conference play. The squad opens its league schedule next Wednesday, Jan. 7, in Fort Collins, Colo., where it takes on Colorado State at 8 p.m. CST.
Players Mentioned
