After a few moments of Buffaloes players trying to get open — a period of time that TCU forward Aaliyah Roberson believed lasted longer than five seconds — the ball found its way to Colorado’s Jade Masogayo to the right of the hoop.

Masogayo powered forward, trying to get to the rim and close the gap between her team and the Horned Frogs. But Masogayo was stopped short of her final destination, bowling into TCU center Sedona Prince.

The referee under the basket blew the whistle and dramatically punched one arm forward, indicating a charge. Prince hopped up and let out an exhilarated yell, high-fiving teammates as she ran down the floor.

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Six seconds of game time later, the momentum swung back toward the Buffaloes following an over-and-back turnover by TCU guard Madison Conner. On the ensuing Colorado possession, Prince found herself tied up with Masogayo under the hoop on a rebound attempt. The referees assigned Prince her fifth foul and sent her to the bench one last time.

The foul, however, worked out in TCU’s favor. Masogayo missed both of her free throws, and 5’9 TCU guard Hailey Van Lith outjumped everyone else to snatch the rebound. She was fouled by Colorado and walked to the opposite free-throw line to seal the Horned Frogs’ first postseason win this season, 69-62.

“Super proud of this group to grind out a win to open up our conference tournament,” TCU head coach Mark Campbell told reporters postgame. “I’m proud of their execution down the stretch at the end where we had to get stops and big buckets, especially [Van Lith and Prince] made tremendous plays for us in the fourth quarter.”

TCU trounces expectations

Getting to the semifinals of the 2025 Big 12 Tournament has been a long road for TCU dating back to last season.

After a 14-0 start to the 2023-24 season, a slew of injuries set the Horned Frogs back. They barely had enough players to compete, and Campbell made the decision to host open tryouts in January 2024. 

Fast forward a year and change later, and the Horned Frogs are the top team in the Big 12 and a top-10 team in the AP poll. They finished the regular season with a program-record 28 wins and finished atop the conference for the first time ever.

“Last year was unlike anything I have ever experienced in my life,” Prince told reporters on Friday. “Just the adversity and the feeling of ‘Why is this happening?’ didn’t make sense to us and it felt really unfair. … For those who stayed, it’s this feeling of grit that we learned, what that means and what it takes to just persevere and compete through so much.

“Returning with this team back to the Big 12 Tournament is so much fun. I feel so much more confident and proud to be on this team.”

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Van Lith, the 2025 Big 12 Player of the Year, led the Horned Frogs in scoring Friday, as she’s done all year, with 24 points. Prince tacked on 18 points, six rebounds and five assists.

It was an energizing win for a team that’s been underestimated all year coming off last season’s mishaps. Even after nursing most of its players back to full health and adding one of the top available transfers in Van Lith, the Horned Frogs were still left out of the preseason top 25. Similarly, they were picked to finish fourth in the Big 12 behind Kansas State, Iowa State and Baylor.

“I think all those preseason rankings are all over the place, to be honest,” Conner told The Next on Friday. “You don’t really know. I mean, we were a team that was 1-17 two years ago, then last year we had a whole bunch of injuries. You don’t know what’s going to happen. But I don’t think that we really paid attention to that. We just stayed the course and knew what we had in our circle and came out on top.”

The Horned Frogs burst onto the national stage at No. 19 in the Nov. 18 AP poll after beating then-No. 13 NC State 76-73. Throughout the season, they’ve risen through the ranks, reaching the highest ranking in program history at No. 8 on Monday.

Heading into Saturday’s semifinals, TCU is on the hunt for more history: its first-ever berth in the Big 12 Tournament title game.

Although TCU will make the NCAA Tournament either way, this weekend is an opportunity for the Horned Frogs to make a statement and show exactly how far they’ve come.

Chaos on the mountainside

Defense wins championships is one of the most common adages in basketball, and it emphasizes the importance of stopping your opponent from imposing their will on the hoop.

Some people believe the phrase is outdated at a time when basketball players are more athletic, more efficient and more capable of scoring in outstanding ways than ever before.

West Virginia women’s basketball, however, lives by it.

“You can score all the points you want, but if you can’t guard nobody, it’s just going to be a tie game, so you gotta get some stops,” West Virginia guard Jordan Harrison told The Next on Friday. “Defense definitely makes us different.”

The core of the team’s identity has been molded around defense ever since head coach Mark Kellogg took over before the 2023-24 season. Since then, the Mountaineers have been one of the best defensive teams in the country.

This season, they led the Big 12 in scoring defense, turnovers forced, turnover margin, total steals and steals per game in the regular season. They also currently lead the country in turning opposing teams over 24.1 times a game.

West Virginia is known for frustrating even the most composed offenses with its aggressive full-court press and relentless ball pressure. 

“We love defense,” graduate guard JJ Quinerly told The Next on Friday. “I think that’s where all of us get going. … Our defense definitely sets the pace for the game, sets the tone, and we go from there.”

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Quinerly is the anchor of the Mountaineers’ defense. The back-to-back Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and three-time Big 12 All-Defense selection is third in program history in career steals and sixth all-time in the Big 12. This season she ranks 12th in the nation in steals per game, averaging 3.0.

“I think my defense is a lot of knowing where balls are going, maybe baiting people to do things they may not want to do,” Quinerly told reporters on Friday. “My teammates help me a lot. I think we have a great defensive team, so when everybody is clicking it makes it a lot easier for me.”

With Quinerly as the catalyst, other players find ways to shore up West Virginia’s defense alongside her. Senior guard Kyah Watson ranks eighth nationally with a whopping 3.2 steals per game.

Harrison also averages over two steals per game. Junior transfer Sydney Shaw led the way with three steals on Friday and averages 1.9 per game. Newcomer Sydney Woodley isn’t far behind with 1.7 per game.

“Our backcourt is ridiculous defensively and offensively,” Quinerly said. “We go at it on both ends. And no matter who we play, no matter how big they are, we’re gonna play our hearts out to the end.”

West Virginia takes pride in its ability to wreak havoc. Its consistent defensive intensity resulted in a pair of top-25 wins in the regular season and a statement victory over Kansas State in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament.

On Saturday against TCU in the semifinals, the Mountaineers will have a chance to prove once again how dangerous a defensive-minded team can be in March.

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