MORGANTOWN — What once looked promising came to a crashing halt Sunday night.
Behind a dominating second-half performance, one that saw No. 17 TCU begin it with a 20-2 run to begin the third quarter, the Horned Frogs pulled away from No. 19 WVU, 59-50, inside Schollmaier Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
For TCU, it extended its home winning streak to 40 games with the victory after shooting a stellar 68% (15 of 22) from the floor in the second half.
“We had that 20-2 run, and this group can do that,” TCU head coach Mark Campbell said. “It was like an avalanche.”
Oh, what could have been, though.
For the first 20 minutes of play, the Mountaineers (21-6, 11-4 Big 12) were on the cusp of staking their claim as the top dog in the Big 12. They led, 28-22, at the break, behind strong play from guard Gia Cooke and Riley Makalusky came off the bench to hit two 3-pointers.
Meanwhile, WVU’s defense held TCU to just 35.7% (10 of 28) from the floor, just one 3-point basket and star point guard Olivia Miles was held without a point until the 5:35 mark of the second quarter.
The final 20 minutes was a different story and knocked WVU off that perch, with two critical 3-pointers from Donovyn Hunter and a circus shot from Marta Suarez, in which she simply threw up a shot over head while facing away from the basket, highlighting the damage.
“The third quarter was the difference and the run that they made,” WVU head coach Mark Kellogg said. “We didn’t have the ability to squash it quick enough. Obviously, the four threes probably felt like more than that. They came pretty quickly.”
WVU’s fall from the top of the Big 12 standings was not a far one. The Mountaineers head into their bye week just a half-game behind both TCU (23-4, 11-3 Big 12) and Baylor in the conference standings, but WVU no longer controls its own destiny and needs help if it wants to earn its first Big 12 title since 2014.
TCU secured any sort of tiebreaker with WVU by sweeping the season series, including a 51-50 victory in Morgantown back on Jan. 14, in which Suarez nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Horned Frogs a victory in that one.
Suarez was just as impressive the second time around, finishing with 14 points and five rebounds and she played the final 4:37 of the game with four fouls without fouling out.
TCU dominated the second half with its size. Clara Silva, a 6-foot-7 center, added 14 points and eight rebounds and the Horned Frogs held a 32-22 scoring advantage in the paint.
The other side of that story was not as good for WVU point guard Jordan Harrison, who was held scoreless for just the second time in her college career and the first time in 92 career games with the Mountaineers. She finished 0 for 5 from the floor, but did contribute five rebounds, four assists and stellar defense on Miles.
Her teammates weren’t that much better, as WVU was held to just 29% (7 of 24) shooting in the second half.
Harrison’s defense led to Miles being a passer and a rebounder for most of the night. After coming off a 40-point game against Baylor earlier in the week, Miles had just four points at the half and finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
It was still good enough for TCU, which has now won four in a row against WVU.
Cooke finished with a game-high 18 points and Sydney Shaw added 12 more for the Mountaineers, who will return home to host Oklahoma State on Sunday.
What happens next? Well, there may still be some chaos to come over the final two weeks of the regular season. West Virginia can’t look past Oklahoma State, which is gunning to remain in the top five in the Big 12.
TCU’s two biggest remaining games are both at home, making the Horned Frogs the favorite to go back-to-back in the Big 12. TCU hosts Baylor to end the regular season and also hosts high-scoring Audi Crooks and Iowa State next Sunday.
Baylor also has an interesting road game at No. 16 Texas Tech on Wednesday before its rematch at TCU on March 1.
In order for the Mountaineers to win the conference outright, they must now finish with at least one more league victory than TCU, basically needing to win out and for the Horned Frogs to lose two of its final four games.
“We’re going to continue to fight,” Kellogg said. “There’s lots to still play for.”
