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Lady Frogs drill Aztecs
Jan. 9, 2008
Final Stats | Quotes | Notes View the post-game press conference via All-Access
FORT WORTH--TCU opened its third season in the Mountain West Conference with a high-energy effort Wednesday, storming past San Diego State, 86-63, at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.
The Purple and White (8-7; 1-0 MWV) moved above the .500 mark for the first time since the third game of the season, while SDSU dropped to 9-4 overall and 0-1 in MWC play. TCU has never lost a conference season opener since joining the MWC.
The Frogs again shot well from the field, hitting at least 50 percent for the second straight game and fourth time overall this season. Among the shooting performance was an 8-for-10 effort from behind the 3-point line, the best mark in school history when drilling at least eight in a game.
Also key for the Frogs was their ability to push the tempo against the Aztecs. Both teams ran the floor early in the game, but TCU continued the pressure throughout to finish with a 23-4 advantage in transition points.
Adrianne Ross led TCU in scoring with 13 points on a night that saw her pass former Lady Frog great Janice Dziuk (1986-90) into second place on the program's career scoring list. Ross, who now ranks only second to Sandora Irvin on the all-time list with 1,453 points, also tied for the team lead Wednesday with four assists.
Danielle Nunn and Helen Roden paced a Frog bench that out-scored the Aztecs by a 37-15 margin, each scoring 12 points. Roden chipped in a team-high seven rebounds.
Moneka Knight and Micaela Younger scored nine and eight points, respectively, and Lorie Butler-Rayford threw down seven points with six boards.
Paris Johnson led San Diego State with a double-double featuring 13 points and 13 boards. Quenese Davis had a game-high five assists for the Aztecs.
Leading by 10 points with 17 minutes remaining, TCU made a key run fueled by three Jenna Lohse layups to push its advantage to 20. The Lady Frogs outscored the Aztecs 13-3 over a two-minute stretch with Lohse's baskets coming off feeds from teammates Butler-Rayford, Ross and Sverrisdottir. Knight drained a 3-pointer during the stretch, while Ross and Nunn each added baskets.
The lead swelled to as large as 27 points with 4:20 to play.
TCU shot out to a 17-6 lead out of the gate for an early 11-point lead. The squad hit seven of its first nine field-goal attempts, including a trey by Butler-Rayford, to force the Aztecs to call a timeout less than five minutes into the game. SDSU was held scoreless for nearly three minutes until Duffy sank a long jumper at the 13:16 mark to end the drought.
The Frogs responded with a Micah Garoutte jumper followed by a Roden 3-pointer and Nunn baseline jumper in transition to stake a 24-8 advantage and force a second early Aztec timeout.
The Frogs held SDSU to only 3-of-15 shooting in the opening nine minutes of the first half.
While the Aztecs were cold, TCU had the hot touch from the floor with the help of a strong transition game. The squad shot 57.1 percent and owned five fastbreak buckets in the first 12 minutes alone.
SDSU climbed back in the game late in the first half with a 12-0 run. The Frogs went cold from the field for a nearly five-and-one-half-minute period while the lead shrank to four points, but the squad persevered to pull away from the Aztecs.
Nunn sank a reverse layup to end the stretch at the 2:15 mark, while Ross later drilled a trey from the top of the key to push TCU's lead back to seven at the break.
TCU next takes to the road for the start of a two-game road stretch beginning Saturday at Wyoming. Tip-off for the game, which will be regionally televised by The Mtn., is set for 2 p.m. CST.
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