TCU Women’s Basketball moved to 7-0 on Thanksgiving with a 68-52 win in the opening round of the Cancun Challenge over a Richmond team currently projected as an eight seed in the NCAA Tournament by ESPN’s Charlie Creme. The Frogs jumped out to an early lead and held on for the win despite an ice cold second half shooting wise. This was Richmond’s second loss of the season with their other defeat coming at the hands of number four Texas as TCU made a solid addition to the resume with this win.
Marta Suarez led the Frogs in scoring with 24 points on 9-14 shooting from the field. Suarez was red hot from three making six of her ten attempts and she added two rebounds and an assist in the game as well. Olivia Miles stuffed the stat sheet once again for TCU with 19 points, eight rebounds, six assists, and one steal. Miles’s ability to create offense both on the fast break and in the half-court gives TCU multiple options to attack opposing defenses and makes the Frogs very difficult to gameplan against.
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Donovyn Hunter was the third Frog in double figures with 12 points, five rebounds, one assist, two steals, and one block. While Hunter was not uber efficient in her scoring, her effort on defense and on the boards was clear as she collected two offensive rebounds and played excellent point of attack defense against Richmond’s guards. Clara Silva played well against the Spiders with eight points and eight rebounds.
While Silva did not record a block in the game, her presence around the rim was a big reason Richmond finished with just 22 points in the paint and she did not commit a foul in her 25 minutes of action.
The Frogs did not have their best day on the offensive side of the floor, shooting 43% from the field and 33% from three as a team. The biggest area for improvement in this game was ball movement as TCU totaled just 12 assists as a team while turning the ball over 11 times. Olivia Miles has consistently done a great job of finding open teammates and while she has more opportunities to do so as the primary ball handler, TCU needs to start moving the ball more as a team.
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TCU played a great game on the defensive end as the poor shooting performance did not impact the effort from the Frogs. TCU held Richmond to just 37% shooting from the field and 27% shooting from three. TCU did a great job of keeping Richmond off the free throw line as the Spiders attempted just ten free throws all game. The Frogs were solid in their rotations, limiting Richmond to 11 assists and forcing 15 turnovers.
TCU jumped out to a 24-15 lead in the first quarter thanks to consistent success getting to the rim and finishing in the paint by the Frogs. The first four made shots of the game from TCU were all at the rim as TCU flashed their driving ability early against Richmond. The second quarter was an impressive showing from the Frogs as they scored 25 points and held Richmond to just three made field goals in the quarter and extended the lead to 49-23 heading into halftime.
Richmond cut into the lead in the third quarter thanks to some excellent defense as TCU was held to just nine points in the quarter. Neither team could generate much offense in the fourth quarter however as the Frogs held Richmond to 13 points in the final ten minutes of the game.
The Frogs went on to face UAB the next day in the Championship of the Cancun Challenge.
