After trailing by nine in fourth quarter, ‘grit and toughness’ fuel TCU women by Ohio

The TCU women’s basketball team was on the verge of losing its first home nonconference game in more than two years Sunday against Ohio.

That’s when the Horned Frogs picked up their defensive intensity, with bodies all over the floor diving for loose balls down the stretch. And in the end, TCU was left standing.

TCU rallied from behind in the fourth quarter to defeat short-handed Ohio, 79-72, at Schollmaier Arena to avoid losing back-to-back games after a program-best 7-0 start to begin the season.

“I loved our fourth-quarter grit and toughness,” TCU coach Raegan Pebley said. “We just kept staying at it and didn’t get defeated.”

The Horned Frogs (8-1) trailed by nine going into the final quarter but closed the game on a 15-3 run to extend their nonconference home winning streak to 23 consecutive games dating to November 2017. Since 2014, TCU is now 50-4 in nonconference home games.

TCU was coming off of its first loss of the season Wednesday at No. 11 Texas A&M, 70-68, in which its defense let down the Horned Frogs over the final two possessions.

But this time around, TCU’s defense was the difference.

The Horned Frogs trailed by five with 6:06 to play but held Ohio scoreless for the next 4:37 during a 9-0 run to take the lead. At one point, TCU had three players on the floor at once with all-out effort during a defensive possession that led to a turnover.

“I thought we really locked in,” TCU senior guard Kianna Ray said. “The game at A&M, a lot of our locker room talk this week is we can’t get that game back but we can make the rest of our opponents feel it and let that hurt at the end of that game fuel us to know how to adjust for end-game moments and push through down the stretch.

“We talked a lot about getting back to our defensive identity because we pride ourselves a lot on that, and just getting back to that helped us a lot in the fourth.”

All five TCU starters scored in double figures, led by Jayde Woods’ 18 points. Forward Adeola Akomolafe finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Six of Akomolafe’s points came during that 15-3 run to close the game.

Senior guard Jaycee Bradley, a transfer from South Dakota, scored 11 points to push her past the 1,000-point mark of her career.

TCU also converted at the free throw line, making 21-of-27 attempts. The Horned Frogs came into the game shooting 57.7 percent on free throws.

Pebley said Ohio was a late add to TCU’s schedule. Ohio (6-3) finished 30-6 a year ago and returns four starters. Ohio came into the game already with two Power 5 wins over Pittsburgh and Ohio State.

But Ohio played Sunday without starting guard Erica Johnson, who missed her first game with a foot injury. The sophomore leads Ohio in rebounds (6.9 per game) and assists (5.1) and is the team’s third-leading scorer (12.1 ppg). She’s one of only seven players in the nation this season to register a triple-double.

Then Ohio found itself in foul trouble late in the third quarter after starters Gabby Burris and Cece Hooks each picked up their fourth foul. That left Ohio playing without three of its top four scorers the final 2:33 of the third quarter. But during that stretch, Ohio outscored TCU 9-4 to build its lead.

“Really disappointed,” Pebley said about the end of the third quarter. “We got to be better taking advantage of those moments, especially offensively there were some bad decisions we made in those moments and that put them in transition. We didn’t make them work the way we needed to.”

But TCU picked up the defense in the fourth to outscore Ohio 25-9 in the final quarter to rally for the win.

“I thought we played fast without playing hurried at the end of the game,” Pebley said. “I loved that they went out and found a way to get it done.”