Eighth-ranked TCU, the top seed at the Big 12 Conference Championship, scored eight unanswered points in the latter stages of the first quarter of Saturday’s conference semifinal against No. 16 West Virginia, a No. 4 seed.
From that point forward, the Horned Frogs never trailed, and they fought off a strong third quarter and second-half rally from the Mountaineers to claim a 71-65 victory at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.
“We didn’t play particularly well in that second quarter and that would be the disappointing part where let them stretch it and were playing from behind the whole second half,” WVU head coach Mark Kellogg said. “But really proud of our response in the third quarter to give us a chance, just could never get it under five.”
With the result, TCU (30-3) advances to Baylor in Sunday’s conference title game. The Bears defeated Oklahoma State 84-74 in overtime later Saturday.
West Virginia (24-7) got two early three-pointers from Kylee Blacksten to aid in a solid start that saw the Mountaineers hold an 11-7 lead.
That’s when TCU ran off eight straight points, including triples from Donovan Hunter and Hailey Vin Lith.
The Mountaineers trailed 17-13 after one quarter and were still down four when JJ Quinerly hit a jumper 7:17 before halftime.
TCU then scored 11 straight points, a stretch that saw both Agnes Emma-Nnopu and Madison Conner connect from long range. The Horned Frogs led 34-19 at that point and 40-25 at halftime and entered the break shooting better than 50 percent (15 for 29).
WVU entered the third quarter shooting 9 for 26, but made 8-of-16 shots over the first 10 minutes of the second half, including two treys from Jordan Harrison in the final 2:23 of the frame to cut the Mountaineer deficit to 52-47.
The Horned Frogs scored the first five points of the fourth, which they began on a 10-3 spurt to create separation.
WVU countered with its own 7-0 run, getting buckets from Kyah Watson, Harrison and Quinerly, the latter of which made it 62-57 with 3:38 left.
Conner’s three with 2:46 remaining was perhaps the game’s most pivotal basket, and WVU never got closer than six the rest of the way save for the final margin.
“You draw off these experiences,” Kellogg said. “We’ve had plenty throughout the year and these feel like NCAA Tournament-type games. That feels like a Sweet 16, Elite 8-type game. Hopefully we’re fortunate enough to get to that level. But we draw off of this. Our reaction to the big games and against quality competition the last two nights was fantastic. Our team stayed together. Maybe let’s not get down 15 where we have to battle back, but outside of that, proud of the group and we’ll draw from it. We’ll be OK.”
TCU had a 14-4 edge on second-chance points and shot 48 percent (25 for 52) to help overcome the Mountaineers making 8-of-17 threes.
Van Lith had a team-high 19 points, eight assists and six rebounds and teammate Sedona Prince was dominant 18 points and 16 rebounds on 9-for-11 shooting.
Conner made five of her team’s 10 threes and added 16 points.
Quinerly led four WVU players in double figures with 20 points. Sydney Shaw scored 11 to go with a team-high seven rebounds, while Blacksten and Harrison added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
The Mountaineers will next play in the NCAA Tournament and will discover that matchup one week from Sunday.
“We’ll get back home, await the NCAA Tournament,” Kellogg said, “and see if we can’t go make some noise when we find out that assignment.”
