No. 9 TCU women’s basketball falls in top-15 showdown with No. 12 Kansas State
The No. 9 TCU women couldn’t find their usual offensive rhythm against No. 12 Kansas State as the Horned Frogs fell 59-50 to the Wildcats Wednesday night.
The Wildcats (22-2, 10-1) took sole possession of first place in the Big 12 and also took the tiebreaker over TCU (21-3, 9-2) with the win. TCU was unable to take advantage of Kansas State being without its best player, Ayoka Lee, who has missed the last four games with an ankle injury.
“Today we didn’t play well enough to win on the road in a tough environment against a really good team,” head coach Mark Campbell said. “All credit to Kansas State, they did a really good job not allowing us to get in a rhythm.”
Kansas State guard Serena Sundell carried the load for the Wildcats with Lee sidelined as she scored 23 of her game-high 27 points in the second half.
Despite leading at halftime, TCU was blitzed by Kansas State in the third quarter as Sundell began to take over for the Wildcats. Sundell scored 15 points in the third, using her size to take TCU players to the post area and shoot over them.
Sundell’s outburst helped K-State outscore TCU 24-11 in the third as the Wildcats held a 43-36 lead headed into the fourth. The Horned Frogs responded with a 8-0 to retake the lead, 44-43, but it was short-lived as Sundell continued to put the pressure on in the fourth. Sundell hit a turnaround jumper in the post and then assisted on a 3-pointer as Kansas State led 55-50 with just 3:10 remaining.
Sundell put the game away with two straight baskets after a timeout which put TCU down 59-50 with less than two minutes remaining.
“She lived at the rim, she’s a unique basketball player,” Campbell said. “They kind of use her as a one through four and today in the second half they used her as a center. She absolutely destroyed us in the post, she just shot layups and layups. She’s a 6-foot-2 versatile playmaker and today she did it around the rim.”
While Kansas State was creating good looks for Sundell, TCU had a much tougher time on offense. Kansas State denied Sedona Prince in the post and made life tough on Madison Conner and Hailey Van Lith by constantly trapping them on pick and rolls.
The Horned Frogs’ big three of Prince, Conner and Van Lith combined for just 34 points, well below their season average of 52.6.
The Wildcats, led by former TCU coach Jeff Mittie, were determined to make anyone besides the big three beat them and the Wildcats were ultimately successful. Van Lith took the loss hard despite scoring 11 points with seven rebounds and five assists.
“Losing is a hard reality to deal with,” Van Lith said. “I’m a competitor and I hate losing. Knowing that we had the capability to win that game and we let it slip is frustrating.”
The Horned Frogs didn’t score in the final 3:58 of the game and only shot 40% from the field. An offense that thrived of being able to share the ball only had 10 assists with 17 turnovers. Much of the credit goes to Kansas State as the Wildcats used their athleticism to make everything difficult for TCU.
Players like Zyanna Walker and Jaelyn Glenn hounded TCU on the perimeter as they combined for six steals. Glenn also made six of her seven shots including two 3-pointers. When the Horned Frogs were able to get the ball inside to Prince, the double teams were immediate and it took Prince well into the fourth quarter to find comfort against that particular style of defense.
“They doubled all the on-ball (screens), they doubled the post,” Campbell said. “We were never able to really attack and play off of those things. They did that for 40 minutes and I think that was our lowest point total of the season I would guess.”
It was always going to be tough to beat both Iowa State and Kansas State on the road in back-to-back games, but it does feel like TCU squandered an opportunity for another signature win in its quest for a No. 1 seed.
This story was originally published February 5, 2025 at 8:24 PM.
