TCU women show fight in second-half rally before falling short at home to Texas Tech
TCU couldn’t quite put the finishing touches on a spirited comeback Wednesday night against Texas Tech in its Big 12 women’s basketball home opener.
The Horned Frogs didn’t have enough left in the tank in the closing minutes and fell just short in an 80-76 loss to the Raiders.
TCU (10-3, 1-1 Big 12) rallied from 16 points behind in the second half to tied the game at 50 on a 3-pointer by Michelle Berry with 3:25 left in the third quarter. From that point on, neither team would lead by more than six points.
“It takes so much energy to come back from that kind of deficit the way we had to come back from it,” TCU coach Raegan Pebley said. “We took some tired shots down the stretch instead of staying aggressive.”
With the game tied at 66, Tech junior guard Sydney Goodson from Argyle made an open 3-pointer with 4:14 to play to give the Raiders (12-1, 1-1) a lead they wouldn’t relinquish again.
TCU cut the lead to 71-70 on a layup by Lauren Heard with 1:04 to go, but Tech responded again when Chrislyn Carr made a 3-pointer 10 seconds later to push the Raiders’ lead back to four. Heard led TCU with 26 points and 11 rebounds.
TCU guard Jaycee Bradley cut Tech’s lead back to one on a 3-pointer from the right corner off an inbounds pass with 32 seconds to play. But Tech’s free throw shooting down the stretch didn’t allow TCU a chance to pull even.
Tech won at TCU for the first time in seven years and handed the Horned Frogs their first home loss of the season after they had started 7-0 at Schollmaier Arena.
Even more disappointing for TCU was that the Horned Frogs were coming off of an upset win Friday at No. 25 Texas, 65-63, their first win in Austin in program history.
“You can’t see Texas, you can’t see any win in this league any more as a big win. That’s a mindset you have to shake off,” Pebley said. “We didn’t show the maturity on how to bounce back from that. We have to shed a mindset of any win in the Big 12 is a big win. It’s not. It’s a confidence thing that we have to grow and improve on.”
Tech was able to hold on late thanks in part to junior guard Lexi Gordon in a homecoming game for her. The Fort Worth native who became Hurst L.D. Bell’s all-time leading scorer made 3-of-4 free throws late and finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds.
Both of Gordon’s parents played basketball at TCU, and the Horned Frogs recruited her hard out of high school before she chose to sign with top-ranked Connecticut. Gordon didn’t play last season after transferring to Tech. But she was supported Wednesday by a large cheering section behind Tech’s bench.
“I wanted to come home and do well for my people who haven’t seen me play in a long time,” Gordon said. “I just wanted to win. It was amazing to have all my people in the stands. I could hear them cheering. It’s really nice.”