TCU women’s senior enters Big 12 tourney prepared to pass the torch

By Travis L. Brown

Special to the Star-Telegram

TCU’s Delissa Gross looks back at the upset of Texas A&M and calls it her favorite moment as a Horned Frog.

Gross, then a freshman, scored four points and blocked three shots as TCU stunned the No. 5 Aggies 56-54 in 2009.

Four years of college basketball have passed quickly, and Gross has only the Big 12 tournament remaining in her career schedule, beginning with TCU’s first-round game against Kansas at 8:30 p.m. Friday at American Airlines Center in Dallas.

“When you’re in the moment and your practicing and everything, it seems sluggish or seems like it’s going by slow, but when you look back on it you think, am I a senior?” Gross said.

At first glance, not much can compare between Gross’ freshman and senior seasons.

In her first year, the Horned Frogs stormed through the schedule, finishing 22-9 while winning the Mountain West regular-season title. Gross would get a taste of the Big Dance as TCU fell to Dayton in the first round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament 67-66.

Her senior season, though, TCU is 9-20 with just two conference wins in the school’s first year of Big 12 play.

But for Gross, there was still that one game that defined the season, like the A&M victory her freshman year. That was TCU’s 64-63 win over Oklahoma State on Feb. 20, marking the program’s first Big 12 conference win.

The game was special for Gross, because she sunk the game-winning layup in somewhat circus-shot fashion.

The lone four-year senior on the team realized, however, the significance of the win for the program and its three starting freshmen, led by point guard Zahna Medley.

“Coach [Jeff] Mittie has talked to [transfer senior] Whitney [Williams] and I and at this point we realize we’re building a foundation so that they’re going to be a better team the next three years, because they are,” Gross said. “They’re going to compete in the Big 12 in the future and I think that the legacy that Whitney and I leave behind is that we can compete in the Big 12.”

It’s without question that Medley will be key in that success and has been from Day One of her career. Averaging 12.7 points per game, Medley was a unanimous selection on the Big 12 All-Freshman team. Medley was also the Big 12 Freshman Player of the Week four times this season.

“Her 3-point shots are amazing,” Gross said. “Even though we’re not winning, she’s still up there shooting with some of the elite point guards in the league. It’s been exciting playing with her.”

Gross and Medley will have to be on top of their game for the Horned Frogs to pick up a win over Kansas (17-12, 8-10 in Big 12).

In the their first meeting, Medley scored a career-high 35 points in TCU’s 76-75 loss at home. On Tuesday, Medley and Gross were held to single-digit scoring figures in a 74-67 loss.

Medley, from Springfield, Ill., also must keep control of the ball as a first-year point guard, which she said was the biggest difference coming into the college game. She has turned the ball over 108 times this season.

“I was an OK ball-handler from high school coming into college, but when you play against [Baylor’s] Odyssey Sims and them, you have to be really strong with the ball and direct people where they need to be and handle the ball at the same time,” Medley said.

Gross said she believes the torch she carried for TCU the past four years is in good hands with Medley.

“I think I’m comfortable passing the torch to Zahna,” Gross said.

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