TCU shows fight in close loss to Baylor, but Frogs ‘not interested in moral victories’

The TCU women’s basketball team still hasn’t defeated Baylor in 30 years. But the Horned Frogs pushed the Bears to the brink Wednesday night at Schollmaier Arena.

TCU led going into the fourth quarter against No. 2 Baylor but couldn’t finish off the upset as the Bears pulled away down the stretch for a 66-57 victory.

Baylor (16-1, 5-0 Big 12) opened the fourth quarter on an 8-0 run to erase a 45-44 deficit, and TCU would get no closer than five points the rest of the way.

TCU coach Raegan Pebley said she was pleased with her team’s fight and effort, but coming close to knocking off one of the nation’s top teams just wasn’t good enough.

“Our team is too smart and too driven and too experienced for me to blow smoke,” Pebley said. “They’re interested in winning and not interested in moral victories.”

Baylor won its 46th consecutive Big 12 regular-season game and extended its conference road winning streak to 38 in a row. The Bears have now won 28 consecutive games against TCU, a streak dating to 1990.

But this one didn’t come easy for the Bears. They turned the ball over 18 times and missed 12 free throws.

Baylor was without its top scorer and rebounder in sophomore forward NaLyssa Smith, who missed the game because of a right high ankle sprain. Smith, who is averaging 16.3 points and 8.1 rebounds, had started every game this season.

Baylor senior Lauren Cox is also not at full strength, still working her way back after missing eight games because of a right foot injury. Sophomore center Queen Egbo started in place of Smith but fouled out with 6:20 left to play.

“You’re going to have nights like this,” Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said. “You got Lauren not back full speed, your starting 4-player (Smith) is [not playing]. Find a way to win. Just find a way to win, and we found a way to win.”

All five Baylor starters scored in double figures, led by Egbo and Te’a Cooper with 14 points each. TCU senior Kianna Ray led three Horned Frogs in double figures with 16 points.

TCU (13-4, 4-2) is tied for second place in the Big 12 with Texas, a team the Horned Frogs defeated in Austin to start conference play.

The game ended Wednesday with Pebley lifting her arms over and over again, urging the Horned Frogs’ home crowd to stand up and continue to chant “TCU.” Baylor had a large contingent of fans at the game who were vocal throughout.

“I just think it’s our home crowd and we can’t let somebody chant their school’s name louder than our school on our home court,” Pebley said. “That was what that was about, making sure Schollmaier stayed our home court.

“Baylor is an hour down the road, so I get why they have their fans here. We need our crowd to grow. Our team is a great product on the floor and great entertainment, but that’s how Baylor travels.”

Baylor ranks No. 1 in the nation in eight statistical categories, including scoring defense (48.8) and scoring offense (87.8). But TCU became only the third team all season to hold Baylor to fewer than 70 points.

Baylor, coming off a 40-point home win Saturday over No. 17 West Virginia, had won its first four Big 12 games by an average of 37.5 points. Baylor’s only loss this season came to now No. 1 South Carolina, 74-59, on Nov. 30. The Bears had won all their other games by double digits.

Mulkey said she remains impressed with TCU.

“They won some big games this year. They’re hungry to get into the NCAA tournament,” Mulkey said. “They have four or five seniors who have played together — and that does matter. They play hard. They’re undersized. They’re pretty much all the same size, but they play extremely hard and they’re having a good year.”

This story was originally published January 22, 2020 at 10:34 PM.