No. 11 TCU women’s basketball relies on its depth to pull away from BYU Cougars
No. 11 TCU showed off its depth as five players scored at least nine points in a decisive 79-47 win over BYU on Tuesday night in Big 12 women’s basketball action at Schollmaier Arena.
“Another really good win,” head coach Mark Campbell said. “Every one of these in the Big 12 are so hard to get. You value and appreciate each one, especially down the stretch in February. Tonight was awesome, it was a full team effort.”
The Horned Frogs (23-3, 11-2) started the game fast, jumping out to a 17-7 lead in the first quarter. But that early surge wouldn’t last long as BYU (12-12, 3-10) got a 7-0 personal run from Emma Calvert that cut the Horned Frogs’ lead to 23-19 entering the second quarter.
What turned out to be a decisive run for the Horned Frogs came surprisingly with TCU’s big three of Hailey Van Lith, Madison Conner and Sedona Prince on the bench in the second quarter.
Not satisfied with the effort to start the quarter, head coach Mark Campbell made the gutsy move to play the trio just a combined seven minutes in the quarter. The Horned Frogs’ reserves got a chance to shine.
“This time of the year, Game 26, we’re playing for high stakes. At this type of the year, trying to get the team to play right shouldn’t be one of our issues,” Campbell said. “We weren’t locked in. It looked like we didn’t know the scout, we were taking poor shots offensively.
“Tonight to start the game they didn’t do what they were supposed to do on either side of the ball and that’s why you have a team.”
The ‘Big Three’ was subbed out with TCU leading 23-21. Agnes Emma-Nnopu was the lone starter on the floor for TCU with a bench unit led by Deasia Merrill that extended the lead to as many as 12 points.
Merrill hit her first three shots from the field, and TCU also received a boost from forward Natalie Mazurek. Playing in her first game since Dec. 29, Mazurek came off the bench and hit a key free throw and a 3-pointer that put TCU ahead 38-26 with just under two minutes remaining in the first half. The Horned Frogs led 38-30 at halftime.
It was an important stretch for TCU, which has often relied heavily on the trio for production on offense this season. Even though the Cougars are near the bottom of the Big 12 standings, it was still impressive to see TCU get big minutes from the bench in pulling away in a game that could’ve turned into an upset scenario.
The performance continued the encouraging trend TCU has seen over the last month of having different players step up to complement the scoring of the big three.
Against Iowa State it was Taylor Bigby. Against Texas Tech it was Aaliyah Roberson. And against the Cougars on Tuesday it was the entire reserve unit: TCU finished with 29 bench points compared to two for BYU. Merrill finished with nine points against BYU while Una Jovanovic added seven points, six assists and four rebounds.
“We practice together all the time,” Jovanovic said of the bench’s performance. “I think we had a lot of good chemistry. None of us were unfamiliar playing with each other. I think that went a long way in us being comfortable and making plays for each other.”
After the reserves created some separation, it was time for TCU’s stars to deliver the dagger. Possibly motivated by the second-quarter benching, TCU’s high-powered trio began to assert itself in the third quarter. Prince started the quarter with a nice 15-foot jump shot and added another a few moments later.
Van Lith, who scored but two points in the first half, added seven in the third including a 3-pointer that put the Horned Frogs ahead 53-38.
Conner got into the mix as well. Despite missing her first three 3s of the quarter, the sharpshooter knocked one down to help the Horned Frogs enter the final quarter ahead 62-43.
While the Cougars aren’t a marquee opponent, every win is critical at this stage of this season for TCU with the Big 12 being wide open. Before tip-off, TCU, Kansas State and Baylor entered the night tied at 10-2 in the conference standings. Behind them were three more teams tied at 9-3.
Baylor also improved to 11-2 in the conference with a win over West Virginia, but the Horned Frogs currently own first place due to having the tiebreaker over the Bears. There’s still more basketball to be played, but the Horned Frogs took another step toward potentially capturing the regular-season Big 12 title.
“It’s one game at a time,” Campbell said. “You shoot yourself in the foot tonight, not only does it put you behind the eight ball for a league title, we’re trying to earn a top-16 seed and host two games. You can’t drop one of these. The margin for error for what we’re trying to do is zero.”
The Horned Frogs are set to play at Arizona on Sunday.
This story was originally published February 11, 2025 at 8:37 PM.
