TCU women fail to pull out late win over Texas

By Travis L. Brown

Special to the Star-Telegram

In a game that saw both teams struggle to put up points, the Texas women's basketball team outlasted TCU, handing the Horned Frogs another late-game loss, 61-56.

Saturday marked the sixth game this season -- fifth in conference play -- that the Horned Frogs (7-13, 0-9 Big 12) were defeated by a margin of eight points or fewer.

"These type of losses hurt more," TCU coach Jeff Mittie said.

With 23 seconds left and TCU trailing 57-56, freshman guard Kamy Cole came within an inch of hitting center Latricia Lovings with a pass as Lovings cut through the lane off a screen, turning the ball over to the Longhorns (9-11, 2-7).

TCU had one more chance to tie with 10 seconds left, but a pick-and-roll -- which had worked so well in getting the Horned Frogs back into the game -- between freshman guard Zahna Medley and Lovings broke down, forcing Medley into an ill-advised shot in traffic that was blocked by Texas guard Empress Davenport.

Texas' 6-foot-7 center, Imani McGee-Stafford, a 57 percent free-throw shooter on the season, went 4 for 4 from the line to close out the game for the Longhorns.

"She has a lot of confidence in herself and she was having a good day, so it wasn't somebody I wasn't comfortable having on the line," Texas coach Karen Aston said.

McGee-Stafford set a new season high for points with 23, completing her eighth double-double of the season with 13 rebounds.

The Horned Frogs opened the game on fire, jumping out to a 9-0 lead with Cole netting seven of the first nine points. But after the 15-minute mark of the first half, no Horned Frog would find the bottom of the net other than Medley until sophomore guard Donielle Breaux hit a layup to close out the half with TCU trailing 26-23.

Both Cole and Lovings spent a good portion of the second half on the bench because of foul trouble, helping Texas jump to a 10-point lead with seven minutes to play.

But Mittie called for a high pick-and-roll between Medley and Lovings that brought TCU back within one point of regaining the lead.

"I liked the looks we were getting out of it and I liked the decisions we were making out of it, so I stuck with it," Mittie said.

The final TCU possession of the game was drawn up to be another pick-and-roll, but Texas didn't give the defensive look the Horned Frogs were expecting, causing some confusion.

"We wanted to take the early layup if we could," Mittie said. "[Medley] felt like she had enough to shoot it, and she just didn't quite have enough space to shoot it."

Natalie Ventress also found traction in the second half, picking up all of her team-high 16 points in the last 20 minutes.

The young Texas squad picked up its second Big 12 win at the Frogs' expense and remained undefeated all-time over TCU with a 31-0 mark.

TCU still is searching for its first Big 12 conference win, but taking the positives from the effort his team gave in its third game in six days, Mittie said the future remains bright for the young Frogs.

"It should hurt, but we'll get over the hump," Mittie said. "If people think this is going to be the result of this -- no. This team will be just fine. The future will be just fine, but right now that's hard."

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