TCU women look to climb Big 12 ladder at Iowa State

TCU can take a step up on the Big 12 ladder with a win at Iowa State at noon Saturday, after taking a step forward in the Horned Frogs’ 77-69 loss to No. 12 Texas on Wednesday.

Through the first half of the conference schedule, TCU’s youth has showed at times, its shooting has taken over in fewer and fewer moments, and bigger, more experienced teams have gotten the better of the Frogs both on the boards and in transition. But not all the signs are bad.

“We’ve got a team that hates losing,” TCU coach Raegan Pebley said after Wednesday’s second loss this season to Texas. “But they’re positive, and they feel their growth. We have to keep persevering.”

These are the lumps that young teams take while growing up in one of the toughest, deepest conferences in the country. But in the regular season’s final nine games, persevering means a single-minded focus for TCU (10-10, 2-7) on piling as many wins on top of the 10 the Horned Frogs already have, against an Iowa State team (11-9, 2-7) the Horned Frogs beat 80-75 less than two weeks ago.

A good sign from Wednesday’s loss to Texas was freshman guard Amber Ramirez getting hot from the perimeter in the second half on her way to a team-high 15 points in her fifth game back from a lower leg injury.

Turning those good signs into a win at Iowa State would actually have the Frogs’ arrow pointing upward, with wins in three of their last five after five straight losses to open Big 12 play. TCU will need to slow down the backcourt triple threat of Seanna Johnson (16.3 points per game), Bridget Carleton (15.7) and Jadda Buckley (14.8) in order to make it happen in Ames.

This story was originally published January 27, 2017 at 4:16 PM with the headline "TCU women look to climb Big 12 ladder at Iowa State."