History made: No. 10 TCU secures program’s first Big 12 title with win over No. 17 Baylor
For the first time in program history, TCU women’s basketball team is the Big 12 champion after defeating No. 17 Baylor 51-48 in Waco Sunday.
In a season that’s already had plenty of historic accomplishments, the regular season Big 12 title is the biggest of them all — so far. The fact that it came against rival Baylor, a program that dominated TCU over three decades, only made the occasion sweeter.
“There’s been so many times postgame when I get to come in here and it’s the first time we’ve done this or the first team to do that,” head coach Mark Campbell said. “Well this tops all of them. To win a league title and to bring that trophy home, it’s a little surreal to be honest. I’m so proud of this group.”
The victory over the Bears cements one of the fastest turnarounds in college sports. Two years ago, TCU was just 1-17 in the Big 12, but now the No. 10 Horned Frogs will be the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Big 12 Tournament.
“This is historic for our program,” Campbell said. “When you know the depths of where we’ve come from, you truly understand the significance of this. You inherit a 1-17 program, you hold tryouts a year ago because you can’t field a team to going 28-3 and winning an outright conference title. We’re going to enjoy this.”
Winning the title wasn’t easy as the Horned Frogs (28-3, 16-2) watched Baylor erase a nine-point lead in the third quarter as TCU only led 38-36 entering the fourth. While the Horned Frogs climbed up the rankings with an explosive offense, it was TCU’s defense that was the difference in the final quarter.
The Horned Frogs held Baylor to just two points in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter while their sharpshooters finally came alive. Taylor Bigby and Agnes Emma-Nnopu hit back-to-back 3s to give TCU a 44-36 lead.
“Those kids stepped up big, Bigby’s 3 was a dagger,” Campbell said. “Agnes in the fourth quarter also hit a monster one. We can shoot the ball and that makes us hard to defend.”
After a bucket by Baylor, Madison Conner added a 3-pointer of her own as she shrugged off heavy ball pressure from a Baylor defender to make it 47-38 with 4:29 remaining.
The Bears made one last run and cut TCU’s lead to 50-48 with 10.4 seconds remaining. Hailey Van Lith split a pair of free throws to increase TCU’s lead to 51-48 and the Horned Frogs were able to get a stop as Yaya Felder’s game-tying 3 fell short of the rim.
It was a special moment for Van Lith, who has won at a high level before at Louisville and LSU. Now she can add leading TCU to a league title to an already impressive college resume.
“It feels awesome, not a lot of people understand how hard it is to win a regular season championship,” Van Lith said. “That means you have to dominate consistently over the course of a league season. That just says a lot about us and the level we’ve been able to play at. It’s been a battle, to win in a game like this where we had to grit it out and be tough and mentally overcome things I think that’s the perfect way.”
Van Lith and Sedona Prince, the two women that played the biggest part in the turnaround, were the catalysts against the Bears early.
Prince’s mental toughness was on display as she was the target of constant boos with every touch. Prince overcame the hostile environment and kept TCU afloat during the first quarter when the Horned Frogs struggled to find their footing offensively.
Prince scored 10 of TCU’s 12 points in the quarter with four of the buckets coming from the mid-range. Baylor kept giving Prince 15-footers and the talented center capitalized on the space.
“That’s been my go-to for years since I’ve been at Oregon,” Prince said. “I’ve been working on it for years and it’s really cool that it’s become a big part of my game.”
Meanwhile Prince’s rim protection made life difficult for Baylor on the defensive end as the Bears hovered around 20% shooting in the first half. But TCU couldn’t create separation as its highly touted offense struggled against Baylor’s ball pressure.
That was until Van Lith got going in the second quarter. Van Lith went right at the Baylor defense scoring seven points including a step back 3-pointer right before halftime, which gave TCU a 27-21 lead at halftime.
As spectacular as the duo was in the first half, it was role players like Taylor Bigby and Emma-Nnopu that made the key plays in the second half.
TCU held Baylor to just 28% from the field while Prince led TCU with 16 points and 19 rebounds while Van Lith added 14.
This story was originally published March 2, 2025 at 8:02 PM.
