The women’s basketball team improved to 2-0 for the first time since the 2005-06 season by defeating the UT-San Antonio Roadrunners on Sunday.
Sophomore guard Helena Sverrisdottir fell two assists shy of a triple-double as the Lady Frogs followed up Friday’s 80-68 win over No. 3 Maryland with a 73-60 victory against UT-San Antonio.
The Lady Frogs struggled to separate themselves from the Roadrunners on the scoreboard in the first half, but the team would take a 42-30 lead into halftime due to clutch outside shooting from junior guard TK LaFleur. Their advantage never dipped below double digits in the second half as the team improved to 2-0 on the season.
But head coach Jeff Mittie said his team lacked energy coming off an emotional win against the University of Maryland, which led to the coach trying to motivate his team during an early timeout.
“On one hand as a coach you understand it,” he said. “On the other hand, you know you are playing an NCAA tournament team and you can get beat today if you don’t come to play. I told them they were better than that.”
The Lady Frogs would go on to shoot 57 percent from the field in the first half, while holding UTSA to 40 percent shooting. LaFleur led the offensive attack early, as she scored 12 points in the first half, including making three of five on three-point attempts. But the second half belonged to Sverrisdottir, as she finished the game with 19 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in 35 minutes of action.
“She just continues to get better and better,” Mittie said. “Helena is just a good all-around player and we are just trying to utilize all of the different things she can do.”
In addition to the contributions of LaFleur and Sverrisdottir, TCU also benefitted from points off its bench. Sophomore guard Emily Carter connected on five of seven from the field, netting 12 points in 25 minutes, she also had two rebounds and two assists.
With the team now 2-0, Carter said she likes the direction the team is headed.
“We know the talent we have on this team,” she said. “It is just about putting it all together. Once we do that, I think we are going to be pretty good.”
Despite the success so far, Mittie said his team has a lot to work on.
“I did not feel we had the same killer instinct tonight like we did on Friday,” he said. “Our rebounding isn’t good enough right now, and our defense isn’t good enough to string some stops together.”
The team was outrebounded 41 to 32 and gave up 16 offensive rebounds. UTSA had two players with double figures in rebounds, while Sverrisdottir grabbed 10 boards as the only TCU player to do so.
The Roadrunners were led in scoring by senior forward Onika Anderson, who recorded a double-double with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Senior guard Monica Gibbs scored 14 points and dished out 11 assists.
“I think we learned a lot about our basketball team,” Mittie said. “We’ve got a lot of film to look at. We’ve got tomorrow off to get a little body rest and we’ll come back Tuesday ready to go.”
LaFleur was named the Mountain West Conference Player of the Week for scoring 44 points and grabbing seven rebounds during the opening weekend. She had a career-best 28 points in the Lady Frogs’ win against Maryland.
