No. 9 TCU women’s basketball avenges loss with blowout in Big 12 opener
The No. 9-ranked TCU women’s basketball team avenged one of its two Big 12 losses from last season with an impressive 77-55 win over Kansas State in their Big 12 opener Saturday at Schollmaier Arena.
The teams faced off 10 months ago in Manhattan with the Wildcats slowing down TCU’s high-powered offense in a low-scoring 59-50 affair. As tough as that loss was, head coach Mark Campbell said he didn’t use it as motivation for the Horned Frogs as they prepared for Kansas State.
“Didn’t even bring it up one time. That was last year’s journey, last year’s team,” Campbell said after the win. “We have 10 new players on our roster. I don’t worry about that kind of stuff at all. This group, this team we’re on our own journey.”
TCU turned the tables on the Wildcats this time with a strong defensive effort and another stellar performance from star guard Olivia Miles.
Miles scored a season-high 29 points while adding eight rebounds and four assists.
“My job is to be aggressive for my team, aggressive passing, aggressive shooting,” Miles said. “Whatever it might be, my job is to be aggressive. I felt I could get to the rim early, and I get into those grooves, it’s kind of hard to stop me. It’s hard to stop when you’re just full speed and attacking.”
The Wildcats came out firing, shooting 60% midway through the first quarter as they led 15-14 with 2:23 remaining in the quarter.
TCU’s defense finally began to come alive at that point as 6-foot-7 center Clara Silva began to assert herself. Silva swatted away two shots and impacted countless others on defense, while Miles started to getting hot on the other end.
Miles slashed to the basket for a layup and then a hit a pull-up jumper right before the first-quarter buzzer to give TCU a 20-15 lead entering the second quarter. That was just the beginning of another brilliant outing for Miles, who had to pick up more of the scoring slack with leading scorer Marta Suarez getting off to a slow start.
Suarez missed five of her first six shots, but it didn’t matter thanks to Miles. Miles would end up scoring 15 in the first half as TCU stretched its lead to 39-26 at halftime.
“Maybe there were some nerves. We had a great crowd today. We were excited and had Christmas break coming up,” Suarez said. “There were a lot of little things, it was the first Big 12 game, but I think we did a good job just kind of handling it, just settling down and figuring out our groove. It came from us getting stops.”
Kansas State’s hot start had cooled off, as the Horned Frogs limited the Wildcats to just 32.3% from the field. Kansas State’s best player and leading scorer Taryn Sides was held to just two points in the first half as she was blanketed by Taylor Bigby and Maddie Scherr.
“I would say Maddie and Taylor Bigby are our glue players,” Campbell said. “They’re long, they’re smart. They’ve been here for two years. They know the system. They did a tremendous job on Sides. For her to go 3-for-13, she’s had a tremendous year, and that was obviously where our scouts started with. We had to make her hit tough shots and we did that, but credit Maddie and Bigby for doing that.”
TCU put the game away in the third quarter as Miles continued to take over. On one possession, Miles left her defender stumbling with a quick succession of dribble moves that allowed her to get a wide-open layup at the rim.
Just before the end of the quarter, TCU executed a perfect half-court set as Silva caught the ball in the high post and then hit a cutting Miles for another wide-open layup.
Despite not making a 3-pointer in the quarter, TCU grew its lead to 59-37 and cruised in the final quarter as the Horned Frogs extended their home winning streak to 34 games. It was also TCU’s 11th straight win against Big 12 opponents.
The Horned Frogs will get a much-needed break over the Christmas holiday, as their next game isn’t until Dec. 31 at BYU.
This story was originally published December 20, 2025 at 5:54 PM.
