TCU women look to upset Big-12 co-leader No. 12 Texas at home

TCU has won two of its past three games after dropping six of its first seven Big 12 women’s basketball contests, but the Horned Frogs will be against the grindstone Wednesday against hard-charging No. 12 Texas.

The Horned Frogs (10-9, 2-6 Big 12) are coming off an 84-66 victory over Kansas on Sunday.

Texas (14-4, 8-0) is tied atop the conference standings with No. 2 Baylor. The Longhorns have won 12 straight — including an 83-54 victory over TCU Jan. 7 in Austin — after losing back-to-back games against Connecticut and South Carolina during their tough nonconference schedule.

The game begins at 8 p.m. at Schollmaier Arena.

“Transition defense is really important against Texas, and sustained fight,” said TCU coach Raegan Pebley. “They’ve got a lot of depth, and you don’t have a lot of room for error. You’ve got to set your transition defense and have a pretty good wall around the paint.”

One of the Longhorns’ threats in the paint has been Duncanville junior Ariel Atkins, who is second on the team in scoring at 13.1 points per game. TCU will counter with an improving backcourt more prone to get hot from the outside than to force the ball inside.

That includes junior AJ Alix, who recorded her third game of 20-plus points in Big 12 play with 22 against Kansas. If TCU is to pull off an upset, it will likely start with her.

This story was originally published January 24, 2017 at 4:14 PM with the headline "TCU women look to upset Big-12 co-leader No. 12 Texas at home."