Photos by Dominic Ceraldi
TCU Women’s Basketball’s season has been up and down in the early going, but Sunday the Horned Frogs earned a statement win by knocking off #18 Texas A&M in Fort Worth as part of the Big 12/SEC Showdown.
Super senior Lauren Heard led all scorers with 33 points, the fifth time she has crested the 30 point mark in her illustrious career. 18 of those points came from the charity stripe, where she was near-perfect in 21 total attempts, including 13-14 in the decisive fourth quarter.
TCU opened the game on a 10-0 run and never trailed, pushing their lead to as many as 29 points in the third. Though the Aggies put together a furious effort in the fourth, Heard’s steady presence at the line held A&M at bay and kept the outcome never in doubt. “Just a lot of goodness in today,” Pebley said after the game. “Really really proud of my team, their gutcheck, their perseverance heading into this game and throughout this game.”
In addition to Heard’s big day, sharp-shooter Aja Holmes had a career night, posting 22 points off of the bench as part of a 6-11 effort from behind the arc. Aahilyah Jackson, who began her career in College Station before joining TCU’s program last season, had a career-high eight rebounds against her former squad, and Patricia Morris had her best game as a Frog, pouring in seven points and adding six rebounds. “We just settled in and did what we needed to do,” Pebley said. She was very complimentary to A&M for continuing to play TCU as well as their preparation and how they compete night in and night out. Jackson said that she “treated this like any other game and knew we needed the dub. It feels good to beat A&M for sure, but I’m just proud of my teammates.”
Heard’s 33 points give her a career total of 1,738 points, moving her past Adrianne Ross into the No. 4 spot all-time. Heard is now 26 points behind No. 3 Helena Sverrisdottir’s total of 1,764 career points, and her 33 points Sunday rank as the fourth-most points she has scored in a game. She is the only player in school history to score 30+ points in a game five times in her career, surpassing Emma Wilson’s mark of four 30-point games. TCU has beat a top-25 ranked team in 17 of last 20 seasons. Six of those wins over the past eight years have come under the direction of current head coach Raegan Pebley.
Now 4-4 on the season, the Horned Frogs continue a seven game homestand when they face Incarnate Word next Sunday at 1:00pm.
Courtesy Frogs of War,
