FORT WORTH, Texas – The TCU women had to forfeit two games and conduct open tryouts on campus last January because they didn’t have enough healthy players.
A year later, with Sedona Prince and Madison Conner both healthy and joined in the lineup by standout transfer Hailey Van Lith, the Horned Frogs (18-1) are a top-10 team and on a nine-game winning streak that includes their first 6-0 start in the Big 12 Conference.
“Gone from the ‘Underfrogs’ and holding open tryouts to this week being ranked in the top 10 … it’s been a very magical ride,” second-year TCU coach Mark Campbell said.
TCU won its first 14 games in Campbell’s debut last season, but Prince (broken finger) and Conner (MCL) got sidelined by injuries and senior point guard Jaden Owens sustained a season-ending knee injury within a couple of weeks after that school-record start. That left the Frogs with six available scholarship players, and two of them were on minutes restrictions coming off their own injuries.
About 40 students then went through tryouts on campus the same week that TCU forfeited Big 12 games against Kansas State and Iowa State. Four of them were added to the roster before the season resumed with a 66-60 win at home last Jan. 23 over UCF, the same team the 10th-ranked Frogs beat 90-81 at home Tuesday night for their second nine-game winning streak this season.
“The game that laid the foundation for TCU was a year ago when we played UCF here,” Campbell said after the latest win over the Knights. “Today was a really special game for our program, for the people that were a part of that game a year ago. There’s a huge mural in our offices of pictures from that game that will be up there as long as I get to coach here.”
The 6-foot-7 Prince had 27 points on 11-of-15 shooting and seven rebounds against UCF this week. Van Lith scored 20 points while matching her career high with six 3-pointers and had seven assists without a turnover, while Conner made four 3s while scoring 14 points and having six assists. The Frogs had assists on 29 of their 32 made field goals and finished with 15 3-pointers, their most ever in a Big 12 game.
TCU’s current nine-game winning streak followed an 85-52 loss to reigning national champion South Carolina on Dec. 8. That came at the end of the first week that the Frogs had ever been in the top 10 — then at No. 9.
“That game probably is going to be the biggest blessing of our season. Honestly, it taught me a lot personally, but I think our team a lot. Each person learned different things that were needed for the rest of the season,” Prince, a former Oregon player, said this week. “This is the most fun group I’ve ever played with in my entire college career, my entire probably basketball career in my life.”
The Frogs are seeking their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2010.
Scholarship for an ‘Underfrog’
The four walk-ons added to the roster after open tryouts on campus last January became known as the “Underfrogs.”
Sophomore guard Ella Hamlin from nearby Granbury, Texas, the only of those four still with the team, is now on a full scholarship. An emotional Campbell surprised Hamlin with that news in the locker room after the win over UCF on Tuesday night, the timing being specific and symbolic.
“It’s unbelievable. … It’s just amazing to look back and see like how far it’s come,” said Hamlin, who has played only 23 minutes while appearing in 10 games this season.
“Ella’s the lone survivor,” Campbell said. “When adversity hits, most people avoid adversity, run away for adversity. The four ‘Underfrogs’, they showed up when we needed somebody.”
Big tests upcoming
The Frogs play ranked teams in three of their next five games. They host No. 23 Utah on Friday night, which will be their first time in the AP Top 25 when hosting another ranked opponent since losing to Oklahoma State on Feb. 7, 2018.
TCU next week goes to No. 24 Oklahoma State, then hosts Baylor and goes to Iowa State before a game on Feb. 5 at 11th-ranked Kansas State (17-1, 5-0), the only other Big 12 team without a conference loss.
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