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TCU opens MWC Tourney Wednesday vs. Air Force
March 11, 2008
The Opponent: Air Force Falcons Mountain West Conference Women's Basketball Phillips 66 MWC Championship Bracket
Game #31
FORT WORTH--TCU begins postseason play Wednesday, when it laces up against Air Force in the quarterfinal round of the 2008 Phillips 66 Mountain West Conference Women's Basketball Championship in Las Vegas. The No. 2 seed Lady Frogs and No. 7 seed Falcons tip-off at 7:30 p.m. PDT at the Thomas & Mack Center in a regionally-televised contest on the Mountain West Sports Network (The Mtn.).
The Frogs enter the tournament fresh off posting their best season effort in three years as members of the Mountain West Conference. The squad locked up its highest MWC finish during last Saturday's road win at BYU and finished the conference schedule with a 13-3 record, which was two wins better than each of its two previous finishes of 11-5. The 13 league wins matched the program single-season record also recorded by the 2000-01 squad, which claimed the WAC championship. TCU's .813 in-conference winning percentage this season tied for second in team history.
TCU has saved its best basketball for the second half of the season, having won 10 of its past 11 games and 15 of 18 following a 5-7 start to the year. The turnaround had helped move the Frogs into 50th place in the CollegeRPI.com ratings as of Monday.
Air Force has experienced one of its best seasons in recent memory after recording its most conference wins in more than a decade. The Falcons' 10 victories tie for their second most since joining the Division I ranks in 1996-97.
The all-time series has been dominated by TCU by a 10-1 count. The Frogs, which have won each of the past 10 matchups between the teams, swept the season series. The squad won by 19 points at the Air Force Academy on Feb. 2 (67-49) before a 35-point victory March 5 in Fort Worth (85-50).
Wednesday marks TCU's ninth television appearance of the season. The squad owns a five-game winning streak in TV games following an 0-3 start to the season in such contests. Included among the current streak is a 3-0 record in games appearing on The Mtn. Bill Doleman (play-by-play), Andrea Lloyd (analyst) and James Bates (sideline) will handle broacast duties for The Mtn.
As always, Wednesday's game can be heard live on the radio in the Metroplex on 88.7 KTCU-FM with Jeff Williams calling the action. All games this season, home and away, will be broadcast live on KTCU. Live stats and a link to an Internet radio feed will be available via GoFrogs.com.
FROG QUICK NOTES
-Adrianne Ross' next appearance will give her sole possession of TCU's career games played record. She currently is tied with Ebony Shaw (2000-04) at the top of the Frogs' list with 130 appearances.
-TCU is shooting 44.9 percent from the field in the second half of its MWC games, compared to only 38.7 percent in the first half.
-TCU is on pace to record the second-lowest figures in school history for opponent scoring average (58.7 ppg) and turnovers (16.2 pg).
-TCU leads the MWC in scoring (70.2 ppg) and offensive rebounds (14.33 pg) and ranks second in turnover margin (+5.30), steals (10.30 spg) and 3-pointers (5.77 3pg).
-TCU is 16-0 when allowing 59 points or fewer this season.
-The Frog bench has outscored the opponent bench in 25 of 30 games by an average of 8.8 ppg.
-TCU has allowed 42 points or fewer during a school-record four games this season.
-The Frogs have won the turnover battle in 22 of 30 games with five ties. Only Texas A&M, Wyoming and Utah have committed fewer turnovers than the Frogs in a contest this season.
-Ross is only 17 field-goal attempts shy of Sandora Irvin's TCU career record (1,503).
-Lorie Butler-Rayford trails No. 2 Janice Dziuk (778) on TCU's career rebounds list by only 15 boards.
-Butler-Rayford needs 44 more points to become only the 10th Frog to reach 1,000 for a career.
-Helena Sverrisdottir (9.3 ppg) is on pace to finish the season as TCU's highest-scoring freshman since Sandora Irvin (10.8 ppg) in 2001-02.
-Sverrisdottir is the only freshman to appear in the MWC statistical rankings for assists (12th), rebounding (14th) and scoring (21st).
-Moneka Knight has set single-season career bests this year for games started, points, rebounds and steals. She also is on pace for highs in field-goal percentage and free-throw percentage.
-Knight will move into a tie for fourth place with Ashley Davis on TCU's career games played list with her next appearance, which would be her 126th as a Frog.
-Helen Roden ranks second in the MWC for scoring by players with five starts or fewer (Aubrey Vandiver, Wyoming--11.1 ppg).
-The senior class of Lorie Butler-Rayford, Moneka Knight, Jenna Lohse, Adrianne Ross and Helen Roden ranks as the fourth-winningest group in program history (108-50 since 2003-04).
-The group of seniors has combined for 3,854 points, 1,875 rebounds, 1,078 assists and 741 steals during their careers.
SCOUTING AIR FORCE (10-18; 4-12 MWC)
The team averages 56.3 points per game while allowing 64.6 points per contest overall this season.Air Force ranks in the middle of the MWC pack statistically in several categories, including blocked shots (3.4 pg; 5th), steals (7.29 pg; 5th) and 3-point field-goal percentage (32.5; 5th), and the squad's 71.6 percent free-throw success rate is second among league teams.
Senior forward Alecia Steele (12.3 ppg) and senior guard Pamela Findlay (10.9) each boast double-figure scoring averages to rank 11th and 16th, respectively, among MWC players. Steele is the conference's No. 2-ranked rebounder with a 7.4-board-per-game average. Junior guard/forward Brooke Cultra leads the team in assists (2.5 pg), while freshman guard Raimee Beck has compiled a 9.0-point scoring average. Junior center Kim Kreke paces the squad and ranks fifth in the conference in blocked shots (1.1 pg).
LAST MEETING: TCU 85, AF 50 (MARCH 5)
TCU dominated the Falcons through both halves, as the squad shot in excess of 50 percent from the floor in each period for only the second time this season (Dec. 18 vs. Oklahoma State). The game marked the team's third-straight victory by at least 30 points.
As has been the case all season, the Frogs relied on strong defense and a balanced offensive attack. While each individual scored, eight players totaled at least seven points. The bench came up big again and out-scored the Air Force reserves by a 34-15 margin. TCU also forced 24 Falcon turnovers while committing only 12 itself. The miscues helped the Frogs post a 36-9 advantage in points off turnovers.
Roden led the squad in scoring for only the third time this season with 12 points. She also pulled down six boards while dishing out four assists. Ross and Lohse each added 11 points. Lohse recorded a game-high nine rebounds to fall just shy of her first career double-double. Butler-Rayford, Danielle Nunn and Helena Sverrisdottir chipped in nine points each.
Pamela Findlay scored a game-high 17 points to lead Air Force after knocking down 7-of-10 shots from the field.
TCU ALL-TIME IN THE MWC TOURNEY
-2005-06 (No. 4 seed): TCU won its first-round matchup with Wyoming (63-55) before falling in the quarterfinals to top-seeded BYU (53-63).
-2006-07 (No. 4 seed): TCU was upset in the quarterfinals by No. 5 seed Utah, 68-67, on a running jumper in the lane by the Utes' Kaylee Whipple with only 1.7 seconds remaining. The Frogs trailed by as many as 11 points during the second half before staging a late rally.
Adrianne Ross owns TCU's top active career scoring average in conference tournament play (MWC and C-USA) at 12.5 points per game. Helen Roden averages a team-best 5.0 rebounds per game with her only league tourney appearance coming last season.
TCU has won three conference tournaments in program history--2000-01 WAC, 2002-03 C-USA and 2004-05 C-USA.
THREE FROGS NAMED ALL-MWC
Ross, who was named Second-Team All-MWC, earned her third straight all-conference nod. A year ago, she was chosen as the Mountain West Conference Co-Player of the Year, while she was a third-team pick as a sophomore in 2005-06.
Butler-Rayford claimed her second career all-conference honor with a selection to the All-MWC Third Team. The Inglewood, Calif., native paces the Lady Frogs this season and ranks fourth among all league players with a 7.1 rebounds-per-game average, while she is scoring 10.8 ppg. Butler-Rayford previously earned honorable-mention All-MWC accolades as a sophomore in 2005-06.
Sverrisdottir, in addition to being anointed honorable-mention All-MWC, became only the second player in program history to garner league Freshman-of-the-Year honors. She finished the regular season as the lone freshman to appear in the MWC's statistical rankings for scoring (9.3 ppg--21st), rebounding (5.7 rpg--14th) and assists (2.67 apg--12th). She ranked third, second and third among Frogs for each respective category this season.
Jill Sutton, the 1998 WAC Pacific Division Freshman of the Year, is the only other Lady Frog to have been named a league freshman of the year.
FROGS IN THE MWC-A BRIEF HISTORY
The Frogs have never dropped below the .500 mark as members of the MWC. Their Jan. 15 win at New Mexico helped them avoid that case after entering the game at 1-1.
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