TCU women sail past UC Irvine thanks to Hamilton’s 24
Junior Veja Hamilton has been a role player in her tenure at TCU.
She has entered the game to feed one of TCU’s 3-point shooters or pick up intensity on defense, cleaning up the messes left by players with many more minutes under their belt.
Tuesday, while the basket seemed to look like the eye of a needle for the majority of TCU’s shooters, Hamilton not only cleaned up but carried the team offensively to a 78-56 win over UC Irvine to close out the non-conference slate.
Hamilton finished as the game’s top scorer with 24 points, a career high. She topped her previous mark of 20 set last year against Grambling State.
“We don’t know what happened to her tonight,” said senior guard Natalie Ventress. “She just came out and it was like — wow. She played really well tonight.”
TCU (8-3) began the night ice cold, going 4-for-17 from the field and 0-for-5 from behind the arc in the first 10 minutes.
Hamilton came off the bench and scored 12 points in the final 11 minutes of the half.
Her teammates fed off Hamilton’s energy, raising the team’s shooting percentage from the field to 47.1 and 3-point percentage to 41.7 at the break.
TCU’s three-point deficit to Irvine (2-12) at the 11-minute mark turned into a 10-point lead by intermission.
“I don’t think there is a better feeling, honestly,” Hamilton said. “This is probably the first night for me that I felt as confident as I did shooting. I think it sparked me on offense and defense.”
The junior from Spring added six rebounds, an assist and a steal to her stat line.
TCU’s offense suffered another cold start in the second half, shooting 25 percent from the field with 11 minutes left. But the Horned Frogs worked inside and drew shooting fouls that turned into free throw chances.
TCU finished 15 of 18 at the free throw line, which is the kind of production coach Reagan Pebley wants from her team.
“It’s ideal when we can get a quarter of our points from the foul line and a quarter of them in transition,” Pebley said. “I felt like today we were able to get some of that done.”
Ventress, who was 4-for-4 at the free-throw line on her way to 13 points, said Hamilton’s performance would be a welcome addition as TCU moves into the conference slate.
“We loved her energy. She was talking to us, and every time she scored we got really, really hyped. If she could play like that every game, it would be awesome,” she said.
TCU, winners of four in a row and five of six, visits Texas Tech on Sunday in the Big 12 Conference opener for each.
This story was originally published December 30, 2014 at 11:20 PM with the headline "TCU women sail past UC Irvine thanks to Hamilton’s 24."