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Lady Frogs face SDSU in MWC Semifinal Friday
March 13, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format
The Opponent: San Diego State Aztecs Mountain West Conference Women's Basketball Phillips 66 MWC Championship Bracket
Game #32
LAS VEGAS-TCU continues its run in the 2008 Phillips 66 Mountain West Conference Women's Basketball Championship Friday with a semifinal matchup with San Diego State in Las Vegas. The No. 2 seed Lady Frogs and No. 6 seed Aztecs tip off at 2:30 p.m. PDT at the Thomas & Mack Center. The semifinal round contest will be televised live on the Mountain West Sports Network (The Mtn.), while a tape-delay broadcast will air on CSTV at 1 a.m. PST.
The Frogs are the tournament's top remaining seed following Colorado State's upset victory over top-seeded Utah Wednesday. TCU advanced to the semifinals with a 13-point win over Air Force, 60-47, during quarterfinal action Wednesday. The win, which evened the program's all-time record in MWC tourney contests to 2-2, marked the team's 11th win in its last 12 games.
TCU has won 16 of 19 overall since returning from its holiday break with a 5-7 record. The turnaround had helped move the Frogs into 49th place in the CollegeRPI.com ratings as of Thursday.
SDSU posted one of its bigger wins in recent history during the quarterfinals by downing No. 3 seed Wyoming, 66-54. The win marked the team's first in MWC Tournament history after entering the game with an 0-8 mark.
TCU leads the all-time series, 8-2, and swept the season series between the teams. The Frogs opened their MWC schedule at home with a 86-63 victory on Jan. 9 prior to a 75-54 win in San Diego on Feb. 9. The squad found itself down by six points at the half in the latest meeting before putting together one of its best second-half efforts of the season to rally. TCU has won seven in a row overall against the Aztecs, including each of the six meetings the teams have played as MWC rivals.
Friday marks TCU's 10th television appearance of the season. The squad owns a six-game winning streak in TV games following an 0-3 start to the season in such contests. Included among the current streak is a 4-0 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
-TCU is on pace to record the lowest figure in school history for opponent scoring average (58.4 ppg) and second-lowest for turnovers (16.3 pg).
-TCU leads the MWC in scoring (69.9 ppg) and offensive rebounds (14.32 pg) and ranks second in turnover margin (+5.42) and steals (10.35 spg).
-TCU has reached the 20-win level for the seventh time in the last eight seasons.
-TCU has won 11 of its last 12 games and 16 of 19 following a 5-7 start to the season.
-TCU is 17-0 when allowing 59 points or fewer this season.
-The Frog bench has outscored the opponent bench in 26 of 31 games by an average of 8.6 ppg.
-TCU has allowed 42 points or fewer during a school-record four games this season.
-The Frogs have won the turnover battle in 23 of 31 games with five ties. Only Texas A&M, Wyoming and Utah have committed fewer turnovers than the Frogs in a contest this season.
-Adrianne Ross is only six 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 seven boards.
-Butler-Rayford needs 31 more points to become only the 10th Frog to reach 1,000 for a career.
-Helena Sverrisdottir (9.2 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 third place with Sandora Irvin on TCU's career games played list with her next appearance, which would be her 127th 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).
-Roden has scored in double figures in a career-best three straight games.
-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 (109-50 since 2003-04).
-The group of seniors has combined for 3,896 points, 1,896 rebounds, 1,086 assists and 751 steals during their careers.
SCOUTING SDSU (17-12; 7-9 MWC)
The team averages 65.1 points per game, the league's third-highest total, while allowing just 58.6 points per contest. SDSU leads the MWC in several categories, incuding steals (12.76), assists (15.79) and turnover margin (+5.69).
Sophomore guard Jene Morris, a third-team All-MWC selection, leads a young group of three Aztecs scoring in double figures at 13.9 points per game. Freshman center Paris Johnson owns a 12.3 ppg scoring average and ranks ninth among league players in rebounding (6.4 rpg), while fellow freshman forward Allison Duffy holds averages of 10.4 ppg and 5.8 rpg. Sophomore guard Quenese Davis ranks second in the MWC assists race, dishing out 5.0 assists per game. Johnson and Duffy joined Morris on the all-conference team as honorable-mention selections.
LAST MEETING: TCU 75, SDSU 54 (FEB. 9)
The Lady Frogs played one of their best halves of basketball this season down the stretch, scoring 50 points in the second period while out-rebounding SDSU by an 18-10 margin. TCU had shot only 32.3 percent in the first half while committing an uncharacteristic 14 turnovers.
Trailing at the break, 31-25, TCU wasted little time in cutting into the deficit after hitting the floor following intermission. Moneka Knight started a 7-2 run with a pair of free throws, while Micah Garoutte added two layups during the stretch to help cut the lead to only one. Following a pair of Aztec buckets, Lorie Butler-Rayford drilled a trey before feeding a no-look pass to Jenna Lohse, who finished with a layup to knot the score at 37-37.
TCU continued to apply pressure on the offensive end while regaining and extending the eight-point lead it held in the first half.
Butler-Rayford put TCU on top with a layup, Knight drilled a 3 and Adrianne Ross sank a pair of free throws to push the advantage to seven, 44-37. Helena Sverrisdottir added to the run with back-to-back 3-pointers and Garoutte added a layup on a nice feed from fellow freshman Sverrisdottir to open up a 14-point lead with 5:46 remaining.
Four players scored in double-figures for TCU, including Sverrisdottir, who totaled 15 points, and Garoutte, who scored 14. Saturday's game marked the second straight contest the two Frog freshmen paced the squad's scoring attack. Lorie Butler-Rayford recorded 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists, and Knight, who went 10-of-12 from the charity stripe, also added 13 points.
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 13.0 points per game. Lorie Butler-Rayford averages a team-best 5.3 rebounds per game. Both Frogs have played in seven career MWC tourney contests.
TCU has won three conference tournaments in program history--2000-01 WAC, 2002-03 C-USA and 2004-05 C-USA.
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