Much on the line when No. 19 WVU travels to No. 17 TCU

MORGANTOWN — West Virginia’s opportunity to put a stranglehold on first place in the Big 12 women’s basketball standings will be staring the Mountaineers square in the face on Sunday.

So will 17th-ranked TCU, the defending Big 12 champs, who also have just as much to gain with a victory inside Schollmaier Arena.

The two heavyweights battle it out in Fort Worth, Texas at 8 p.m. Sunday. It’s a primetime showdown in front of a national TV audience.

We would call it the game of the year, but the two schools just may have already played that tune. Back on Jan. 14, in Morgantown, it was Marta Suarez’s 3-pointer at the buzzer that handed TCU a 51-50 victory.

“That was one heck of a defensive battle,” TCU head coach Mark Campbell said after the first game. 

It just may be another one.

The 19th-ranked Mountaineers (21-5, 11-3 Big 12) are the underdogs, the program on the rise under head coach Mark Kellogg. WVU enters the game with a half-game lead at the top in the Big 12 standings over TCU, as well as No. 12 Baylor and No. 16 Texas Tech.

“It won’t be about the standings,” Kellogg fires back. “It will be about getting the next one against a really good team in TCU. It’s still a little early to be talking about (the standings). We understand it. It’s a big game on national TV. It’s on the road against a top 15 team in the country. We understand the task at hand and we’ll be excited for that challenge.”

Computer analytics aren’t predicting West Virginia’s stay at the top to last very long. While the Mountaineers may be the upstarts, TCU established itself last season as the top dog in the Big 12, going all the way to the Elite Eight with a 34-win season.

Campbell built on that momentum by signing both Suarez and former Notre Dame All-American Olivia Miles out of the transfer portal.

And they have delivered. Miles just may be the frontrunner for Big 12 Player of the Year following her 40-point effort on Thursday in the Horned Frogs’ 83-67 victory against Baylor. Miles finished with 10 3-pointers in the game, and is averaging 20.5 points and 6.6 assists per game.

The 6-foot-3 Suarez, who began her career at Tennessee, but also played at Cal, drained the game-winner in the first meeting with WVU and chips in 16.3 points and 6.8 rebounds per game.

The Horned Frogs have the size with Suarez and 6-7 sophomore Clara Silva. The Mountaineers have the speed, quickness and an unrelenting full-court pressure defense that forced 24 turnovers in the first meeting. WVU point guard Jordan Harrison had 19 points against TCU.

“We both go about our defenses completely differently, but I thought each team was elite at what they did. Buckets were hard to get,” Campbell said.

There’s more intrigue to the matchup. TCU has won 39 consecutive home games. The last team to beat TCU inside the Schollmaier Arena was WVU on Feb. 13, 2024. WVU has been an excellent road team this season, going 7-1 in true road games.

There’s also the part that Kellogg said is way too early to discuss, but the Mountaineers would be on the cusp of history with a victory. Since 2015, the NCAA women’s tournament has used regional hosts for the first and second rounds.

WVU has been close since then to being one of the top 16 teams awarded a regional, but has yet to accomplish that goal. A win tonight against TCU, and then finishing out the season strong, would all but assure the Mountaineers one of those 16 regionals.

At this point, that’s all conjecture. The game must be played first.

“It’s two good teams and two good defensive teams,” Kellogg said. “I don’t know if it will be 51-50. Hopefully, it won’t come down to a three late like that against us. It will be a battle. Obviously, they are good with a superstar and they’re well coached. It’ll be a challenge for us. I’m excited for it.”