Nov. 4, 2006
FORT WORTH, Texas - The TCU Lady Frogs faces its first opponent of the season when it hosts LTL All-Stars for an exhibition tune-up on Sunday, Nov. 5 at 2 p.m.
Like most schools across the country, TCU will host an exhibition team before the season officially gets underway Nov. 17 against defending national champion and preseason No. 1 Maryland at the BTI Classic in College Park, Md.
The LTL All-Stars consist of former collegiate athletes, including former standouts like Brittany Jackson (Tennessee), Nikki Blue (UCLA), De De Warley, Brandi Teamer (Virginia) and Tasha Phillips (Clemson). Six-year Houston Comets (WNBA) assistant coach Kevin Cook coaches the all-star squad.
"We have played against one another for the last three weeks," eight-year TCU head coach Jeff Mittie said. "We are ready to face some new faces. I'm excited about our team this year and I think it's fair to say we are all anxious to get the season underway."
The Lady Frogs are led by preseason All-MWC and preseason All-American candidate Adrianne Ross. The junior guard from Hobbs, New Mexico, is the team's top returning scorer; she also led the league in steals last season.
The Mountain West Conference named its 2006-07 preseason women's basketball poll late last week at its Basketball Media Day held at the Aladdin Hotel. The TCU Lady Frogs were selected third by a narrow margin, followed by New Mexico and BYU. Both the Lobos and Cougars showed up in the Top 25 poll (New Mexico at No. 20, BYU at No. 24).
The Lady Frogs will have a different look at the first of the season considering one of the team's leaders and prospected standouts, senior Hanna Biernacka, cannot play until grades are posted at the end of the semester (NCAA transfer rules). She will likely make her debut against Georgia in mid-December. In addition, junior guard JimAnne Hejny is likely out for the semester with an injury and rookie Emily Carter will miss the next couple of weeks.
Until then, four newcomers and eight returners will look to lead the Lady Frogs.
The TCU women's basketball team is ranked No. 31 in the USA Today/ESPN Preseason Top 25 Coaches Poll that was released last Wednesday. Unofficial Internet polls and various magazines in the preseason had the Lady Frogs projected anywhere from No. 21 to No. 31.
TCU returns 10 letterwinners, including four starters. The exhibition game is free to the public and live scoring will be available on GameTracker.
