TCU women’s basketball had won 43 home games in a row headed into its March Madness game with Washington, and that streak was in peril late Sunday.

The third-seeded Horned Frogs trailed by almost double digits at halftime, but they persevered for a 62-59 win in overtime over No. 6 Washington in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at Schollmaier Arena in a game that started after 9 p.m. and didn’t end till 11:16.

TCU (31-5) advances to the Sweet 16 and will face No. 10 Virginia (22-11) at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in Sacramento, California.

After trailing for almost the entire game, the Horned Frogs tied Washington (22-11) with a little over two minutes remaining in regulation. Sophomore center Clara Silva then took a broken play and scored on a dive to the rim, knifing through Huskies defenders to give the Horned Frogs their first lead of the half at 51-49.

However, freshman forward Brynn McGaughy got a putback in the final seconds, and TCU graduate guard Olivia Miles missed a 3 at the buzzer, sending the game to overtime.

In overtime, Silva scored the first basket, and the Horned Frogs dominated the first part of the extra period, keeping the Huskies off the board for the first two minutes and going on a 7-0 run to take a 58-51 lead.

The Huskies responded and cut the lead to three with 11.7 seconds left, but junior guard Sayvia Sellers missed a 3 to tie in the final seconds.

Here are more takeaways from TCU’s 44th straight home victory:

Tale of two halves

It was a rough first half for the Horned Frogs, as stars Miles and graduate forward Marta Suárez combined for nine points on a combined 4-for-18 shooting, while Huskies sophomore guard Avery Howell outscored both with 11 points at the half.

The pair’s struggles were endemic of the team’s larger problems on that end of the floor, with the Horned Frogs generating good shots but not able to make them.

Senior guard Taylor Bigby, who had 15 points, four rebounds and a block, talked about what the team said at halftime while trailing 27-19.

“Before coach even came in, I just was telling them like they’re not going to give it to us,” she said. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy coming in here, and this is what March is about, and it’s just one extra thing that I felt like we needed to do. Like, I felt like they were a little bit of a tougher team in the first half, and our team came together during halftime and kind of held each other accountable for the things that we needed to fix, and we went out there and fixed them.”

Suárez got into foul trouble, with more fouls (three) than points (two) in the third quarter, but Miles showed why she was Big 12 Player of the Year, finishing with a near-triple-double after a strong second half with 18 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.

Miles said she relied on her teammates to help keep her resilient, giving a special shoutout to Bigby.

“I owe it all to my teammates to be honest. I was crashing out multiple times,” she said. “I was angry. I was feeling all the emotions because I didn’t want to go home. I don’t want to let my team down and they just, especially Taylor, she was just in my ear. Just keep creating, keep scoring, keep being aggressive, and, you know, I listen to them and I trust them, and it’d be a disservice for me not to be resilient for them and for myself.”

Defense keeps TCU in the game

Defense carried the day for the Horned Frogs, keeping them in the game until their offense could find traction, TCU has relied on its league-best defense, and the Horned Frogs defended the Huskies’ best offensive players well.

Sellers, a first-team All-Big Ten guard, was largely held in check until the second half, finishing with 18 points after scoring only five in the first half. Even with Sellers’ scoring improvement she had to work for every basket, and Howell only scored one basket in the second half to finish with 14 points.

Miles heaped praise on Bigby, Silva and junior guard Donovyn Hunter for their defense.

“Let me just say Taylor and Donovan are, I can’t even put it into words, so imperative to our defense, the way that they chase around these girls for 45 minutes,” Miles said. “... And they do it without complaining, they do it without asking questions, or they do it so blindly for our team. And it’s just so incredible to watch, because it allows us to get in a flow, and we trust them so much to get stops. So having those two starts our defense, and then when it goes to Silva, I mean, she’s just a brick wall down there.”

Washington shot 35% from the field, and TCU’s length was a problem for the Huskies all game, with multiple possessions ending in heaves, blocks or rushed shots.

Miles played all 45 minutes, Hunter played 42 and Bigby 41.

Gutsy decision from Mark Campbell

When Suárez picked up her fourth foul in the third quarter, TCU head coach Mark Campbell could’ve benched the star until the fourth quarter, but elected to keep her out there because of her impact.

Suárez joked that she only had one simple thought.

“I was thinking, don’t foul,” she said. “It was a very tight game, so, like, we couldn’t even either afford easy buckets for them, but I don’t know just try to stay in the game, stay thinking about my teammates.”

But she avoided fouling out, provided quality defense and was an important connective tissue on offense with a couple of key baskets after picking up her fourth foul.

Campbell wasn’t surprised by her performance after picking up the fourth foul.

“My whole head coaching career, I don’t worry about foul trouble. She’s a warrior,” he said. “She’s a really important part of what we do. But it’s analytics, and it’s gut. We have old veterans that are up here, and you don’t want them to get out of their rhythm and lose kind of their flow.

“Traditionally, most people are going to sit the kid until the fourth quarter to shrink the game for them. I didn’t, and she didn’t foul out. And so it just shows you how valuable every bucket is and every possession, and if Marta’s on the bench, we can’t win this game. ... If we’re going to lose, I’m going to go down swinging.”

Suárez scored nine points with eight rebounds in the game.

This story was originally published March 22, 2026 at 11:37 PM.

Lawrence Dow

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Lawrence Dow is a digital sports reporter from Philadelphia. He graduated with a master’s degree in journalism from USC. He’s passionate about movies and is always looking for a great book. He covers the Texas Rangers and other sports.