The last time the Lady Frogs started 4-0 in conference play was in 2005 when they were still in Conference USA. Six years later, TCU hopes to reach that feat in Mountain West Conference play when the Lady Frogs take on Colorado State at noon Saturday at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.
TCU is coming off a 68-47 win over the Wyoming Cowgirls in Laramie, Wyo., on Wednesday. The win gave head coach Jeff Mittie his 400th career victory.
Sophomore forward Delisa Gross led the offensive attack with 11 points, including three three-pointers. Sophomore forward Starr Crawford also came up with 10 points and nine rebounds.
The Lady Frogs (11-6, 3-0 MWC) held a 24-4 advantage in bench points and held Hillary Carlson, Wyoming’s leading scorer, to just six points and five rebounds. Mittie said both things were the real keys to the win.
“The bench played fantastic,” Mittie said. “I thought our centers played very well. Coming in the game, Carlson was averaging 18.5 points per game, and we really challenged Starr Crawford, [senior center] Micah Garoutte, and [freshman center] Latricia Lovings to defend her and get out on the perimeter and defend her, and they did a fantastic job.”
After leading 27-24 halftime, the Lady Frogs burst out of the locker room with an 11-2 run capped by a three-pointer from senior forward Rachel Rentschler to go up 38-26 with 15:56 remaining.
“Offensively, a lot of players played well,” Mittie said. “Rachel Rentschler hit some big shots. Micah [Garoutte] hit some big shots. Delisa Gross was another one who played well. We had a lot of players do good things for us.”
Freshman guard Briesha Wynn nailed a three-pointer to extend the lead to 44-30 with 13:01 left to play. The Lady Frogs never looked back, extending their lead to 20 with 3:33 left after baskets by Wynn and Gross.
Colorado State (8-7, 1-1 MWC) is on the heels of a 71-60 win over New Mexico on Wednesday night.
Junior guard Kim Mestdagh led the Rams with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Junior forward Chatilla van Grinsven added 14 points and eight rebounds off the bench. Colorado State won the rebounding battle 38-32 and held the Lobos to just 34.6 percent shooting.
Besides the big win over New Mexico, it has been an up and down year for Colorado State. The Rams lost their conference opener at Wyoming, 83-43, on Jan. 5. Despite a few other lopsided loses, Mittie labeled Colorado State as a team on the rise.
“It’s a big win for them,” Mittie said. “It’s a team that has been on the rise the last year and a half. They would fall into that category though they took some pretty heavy lumps in the non-conference. To get a win over a team like New Mexico, who has such a postseason history, is big for them. So they’ll come in feeling good about themselves.”
Mestdagh leads Colorado State with 17.1 points per game, including shooting 40 percent from three-point range. Freshman forward Sam Martin has also been a nice surprise, scoring 12.3 points per game and grabbing 6.5 rebounds.
Should the Lady Frogs win, it will be their sixth win in a row since losing six of nine games before Christmas.
