West Virginia cruised to a 77-45 victory over TCU on Tuesday night as the Mountaineers used their offense to beat the Horned Frogs at WVU Coliseum.
West Virginia (11-4, 2-2) was able to start the game with a 6-0 run in the first four minutes, until TCU (6-9, 0-4) got on the board after a pair of free throws from Lucy Ibeh. The Mountaineers continued their run though, with Madisen Smith scoring five of the Mountaineers’ next seven points, including her second 3-pointer of the first quarter to extend the lead to 13-2 with 4:23 left in the first quarter, prompting a TCU timeout.
West Virginia held the Horned Frogs without a field goal until 1:27 into the first quarter, and Knisha Godfrey scored their 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 to start the third quarter, going on a 4-0 run to cut West Virginia’s lead to single digits. After trading over the next few minutes, TCU was able to cut the Mountaineers’ lead to seven with 4:30 left in the half after they sank a pair of free throws. Knisha Godfrey hit a free-throw line minutes later to cut the lead to four, and a Mountaineers turnover and layup kept TCU to just one possession before Madisen Smith hit her third 3-pointer of the half to cut the lead back to six.
Ultimately, the Mountaineers would take an eight-point lead into halftime, 31-23, after Jayla Hemingway sank 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 would get its first bucket of the second half, a 3-pointer from the corner by Kyah Watson that pushed the lead back to double digits. Back to back turnovers by the Horned Frogs led to two fast break layups for the Mountaineers, extending the lead to 38-23 and forcing a TCU timeout with 7:50 left in the third quarter.
The run ended up being an 11-0 run, with West Virginia taking its biggest lead of the game at 42-23, before an Aaliyah Roberson layup got 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 building an 11-point lead.
West Virginia has struggled in the third quarter so far this 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 past two games.
“Coming out with a lot of intensity, we knew that in the past we’ve had bad third quarters and we can’t do that all season so we have to put our foot on the gas and keep going the whole game,” Smith said.
West Virginia started the fourth quarter with 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 roll the rest of the way en route to a dominant Big 12 win streak of 32.
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 three-pointers. Smith was joined in double figures by Savannah Samuel and JJ Quinerly, who scored 13 and 11 points, respectively.
Author of the photo Aaron Parker