West Virginia cruised to a 77-45 victory over TCU on Tuesday night as the Mountaineers used their offense to defeat the Horned Frogs at the WVU Coliseum.
West Virginia (11-4, 2-2) was able to open the game 6-0 in the first four minutes until TCU (6-9, 0-4) got on the board on a pair of free throws. by Lucy Ibeh. However, the Mountaineers would go on their run, with Madisen Smith scoring five of the Mountaineers’ next seven points, including her second three-pointer of the first quarter, to make it 13-2 with 4:23 left in the first quarter, prompting TCU to claim a layup. Time limit.
West Virginia held the Horned Frogs without a field goal until 1:27 remained in the first quarter, with Knisha Godfrey scoring his first bucket of the game. Overall in the quarter, WVU held TCU to four points, 1-11 shooting from the floor and six turnovers, and the Mountaineers led 17-4 after one.
TCU was able to make up some of its deficit early in the third quarter, going on a 4-0 run to cut West Virginia’s lead to single digits. After trading buckets for the next few minutes, TCU was able to cut the Mountaineers’ lead to seven with 4:30 left in the half after splitting a pair of free throws. A free-throw jumper minutes later by Knisha Godfrey cut the lead to four, and a Mountaineers turnover and layup saw TCU lose just one possession before Madisen Smith hit her third three of the half to push the lead back to six.
In the end, the Mountaineers took an eight-point lead into halftime, 31-23, after Jayla Hemingway split a pair of free throws with three seconds left in the half. West Virginia shot just 33% from the floor in the first half, but was able to hold TCU to 25% shooting with seven turnovers. Madisen Smith led the Mountaineers offensively, scoring 13 points on 4-5 shooting, including 3-3 from three.
West Virginia got the first bucket of the second half, a corner three by Kyah Watson, which pushed the lead back to double digits. Back-to-back turnovers by the Horned Frogs led to two fast breaks for the Mountaineers, pushing the lead to 38-23 and forcing a TCU timeout with 7:50 left in the third quarter.
It ended up being 11-0, with West Virginia holding its biggest lead of the game at 42-23 before Aaliyah Roberson’s layup put TCU on the board for the third quarter. WVU would end the third quarter with its largest lead of the game at 57-30. West Virginia held TCU to 7 points in the quarter while forcing seven more turnovers and scoring 11 points.
West Virginia has struggled in the third quarter all season, but not tonight, outscoring TCU 26-7 in the quarter. Madisen Smith talked about what has changed in the team’s third-quarter mentality over the last two games.
“Coming out with a high intensity, we knew in the past we’ve had letdowns in the third quarter and we can’t do that all season, so we’ve got to put our foot on the gas and continue to do that the whole game,” Smith said. .
West Virginia opened the fourth quarter on an 11-5 run that extended their lead to 33 with 4:26 left in the game, their largest lead of the game. The Mountaineers would cruise the rest of the way en route to a dominant 32-game Big 12 victory.
West Virginia shot 45% from the floor and 36% from three, while holding TCU to 31% from the floor and 8% from three while forcing 19 turnovers. Madisen Smith led the way for the Mountaineers with 18 points on 5-9 shooting and 4-6 from three. Smith was joined in double figures by Savannah Samuel and JJ Quinerly with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
A picture from Aaron Parker