TCU
San Diego State
TCU Overcomes 16-Point Deficit in Win Over SDSU
1/28/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 28, 2009
Final Stats | Quotes | Notes
FORT WORTH—TCU shook off a 16-point first-half deficit while rallying to defeat visiting San Diego State, 65-62, Wednesday evening at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.
The Frogs improved to 13-7 overall and 5-2 in Mountain West Conference play with Wednesday's win. SDSU fell to 13-5 overall and 4-2 in the league standings.
Trailing by 10 points with just over 15 minutes remaining, TCU started to rally. Sophomore guard Helena Sverrisdottir kicked things off with a traditional 3-point play, sophomore forward Rachel Rentschler scored on a layup the next time down the floor and junior guard TK LaFleur sank her second 3-pointer of the game after recording a key steal on the following SDSU possession.
Junior guard Emily Carter then drilled with a pair of free throws to finish off a 10-0 TCU stretch that brought the squad back to even with the Aztecs after trailing for most of the game. Carter later recorded her third trey in three attempts to put the Frogs up by three points, 51-48, with 8:56 remaining.
The two teams swapped the lead back and forth from there and the game was tied as the clock went below two minutes. LaFleur made her fifth steal of the game and dribbled coast-to-coast for a layup that put the Frogs up two, 63-61, with 1:14 left.
SDSU guard Jene Morris went to the free-throw line on the Aztecs' ensuing possession with the opportunity to tie the game, but she missed the second of her two shots after draining the first to cut the lead to one. Sverrisdottir snared the rebound on the miss, was later fouled herself and sank two free throws for a three-point TCU advantage with just 22 seconds remaining. The shots by Sverrisdottir extended her streak of successful free-throw attempts to 23.
Aztec guard Jerica Williams's last gasp 3-point attempt just before the buzzer bounced off the top of the backboard to seal the Frog victory.
Carter and LaFleur led the way for TCU with 18 points each. Carter went 4-for-4 from behind the 3-point arc while adding a 6-of-10 performance at the charity stripe. LaFleur made seven of her 11 shots from the field and posted a game-high and career-best-tying five steals that helped the Frogs post a 26-16 advantage in points off turnovers.
While Sverrisdottir shot only 2-for-10 on the evening, she did hit three clutch free-throw attempts in addition to leading TCU with eight rebounds and six assists. She finished with seven points. Rentschler and sophomore forward Micah Garoutte had eight points each.
Three Aztecs scored in double figures in Morris (17), forward Jen Layton-Bailes (16) and center Paris Johnson (14). Johnson and Layton-Bailes each posted double-doubles with 12 and 11 rebounds, respectively. Johnson added six blocked shots, the most by a TCU opponent this season.
San Diego State looked sharp and the Frogs appeared sluggish during much of a first half that saw SDSU build a 16-point lead midway through the period. The Aztecs burned TCU's zone defensive look early by draining four of their first five 3-point attempts while taking a seven point advantage, 12-5, less than five minutes into the contest.
The edge grew to 16 points after SDSU recorded a 12-0 run fueled by four transition buckets where the squad found a streaking Morris downcourt for easy uncontested layups. Morris' final basket made the score 26-10 with just over nine minutes remaining in the half.
TCU found its footing and was able to trim its deficit to only five points by intermission. The Frogs outscored the Aztecs 19-8 in the final eight-plus minutes, with eight points apiece from Carter and LaFleur.
The victory gives the Lady Frogs positive momentum heading into next Wednesday's road showdown at league-leading Utah. The Feb. 4 matchup with the Utes, scheduled to be televised by The Mtn., is set for 8 p.m. MT.
Players Mentioned
