Women's Basketball Defeated By TCU In Conference Tourney

Tulsa, Okla. (Mar. 7) - Texas Christian University shot 46.2 percent from three-point range making 12 three-point baskets en route to a 74-53 win over San Jose State University in a Williams Western Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinal round game.

Forward Jancie Thomas and guard Amy Porter each scored 10 points for the top-seeded and regular-season conference champion Horned Frogs, who were never seriously challenged once they began hitting their three-point shot attempts. Five of TCUs first seven baskets were three-pointers and by that time, the Horned Frogs were ahead 21-9.

"In particular, we shot the ball extremely well from the perimeter and I thought that really got us going. Defensively, I thought that was one of our better efforts in the last two weeks," said TCU coach Jeff Mittie, whose team moved the ball efficiently on offense for 25 assists in its 27 baskets.

"I don't think we came out as focused as we needed to be. Our defensive intensity wasnt there. We gave up too many open looks," said San Jose State coach Janice Richard. "The three things we talked about before the game were to be able to defend the perimeter shoot and we gave up 12 threes, so we did a poor job there; protecting the basketball, and we had too many turnovers; and we just had too many breakdowns and couldn't get anything going offensively. So, it ended in a 21-point loss."

The Spartans, 13-16, shot just 30.5 percent from the field compared to the Horned Frogs overall pecentage of 41.5 percent. Neither of San Jose States top two scorers, Atari Parker and Danada Smith could get the same open shots they had 16 hours earlier in the opening round tournament win over UTEP. Parker took just five shots and scored four points for the second time in eight days against TCU. Smith, who found herself double and triple-teamed whenever she had the ball in the corners offensively, finished with 17 points, but was 6-of-21 from the field.

Neither Smith nor Richard made any excuses about the short turnaround time for the TCU contest.

"I felt all right. I was pumped for the game. Like coach said, It's tournament time and you have to suck it up and go with it. We were the underdogs and that kept us going," said Smith. "Towards the end of the first half, I could tell I was struggling a little bit."

Reserve forward Tatiana Taylor matched Smith with 17 points for game-high scoring honors. No other player for either team scored in double figures.

After trailing 39-21 at halftime, San Jose State was within 15 points twice, but on each occasion, a TCU three-point basket bumped the Horned Frogs lead back to 18 points. TCU led by as many as 29 points, 69-40, with 7:04 left in the game.