March 7, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

Game #30
TCU (19-10; 12-3 MWC) vs. BYU (13-14; 7-8 MWC)
Provo, Utah -- Marriott Center (22,700)
Saturday, March 8 -- 6:30 p.m. CST
Television: CSTV (DirecTV-610; Dish-194)
Radio: 88.7 KTCU-FM, gofrogs.com
Internet: Live Radio via KTCU; Live Statistics via All-Access

FORT WORTH--TCU makes its second national television appearance of the season Saturday as it closes out regular-season play on the road at BYU. Tip-off for the contest, which will be televised by CSTV, is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CST at the Cougars' Marriott Center in Provo, Utah.

The Lady Frogs will look to continue their recent momentum heading into postseason play in addition to reaching the 20-win plateau for the seventh time in the last eight seasons. The squad already has set a high for most league victories in its three seasons as a member of the Mountain West Conference with 12, and a win Saturday would clinch the No. 2 seed in next week's Mountain West Conference Tournament. The Frogs earned the fourth seed in both of their previous MWC tourney appearances.

BYU looks to even its season and conference records after dropping six of the last eight decisions. The Cougars a 9-4 at the Marriott Center this season.

TCU trails in the all-time series, 4-7, despite taking the season's earlier matchup in Fort Worth, 73-54. The victory marked the Frogs' second straight win over the Cougars. BYU has won each of the last two meetings in Provo.

Saturday maks TCU's eight television appearance of the season. The squad owns a four-game winning streak in TV games following an 0-3 start to the season in such contests. Included among the current streak was a Frog victory in their only other CSTV broadcast of the year, Jan. 29 at UNLV (56-38). The play-by-play tandem of Chris McGee and Sonya Beeler will call the action for CSTV.

As always, Saturday's game can be heard live on the radio in the Metroplex on 88.7 KTCU-FM with Jeff Williams calling the action. All games this season, home and away, will be broadcast live on KTCU.

Frog Quick Notes
-A TCU win Saturday would earn it a seventh 20-win campaign in the last eight seasons.

-Adrianne Ross' next appearance will tie her with Ebony Shaw (2000-04) for first on TCU's career games played list at 130 games.

-TCU has won nine of its last 10 games and 11 of 13 following an 8-8 start to the season.

-Each of TCU's last three victories have been by at least 30 points.

-TCU is shooting 45.5 percent from the field in the second half of its MWC games, compared to only 38.5 percent in the first half.

-TCU is on pace to record the second-lowest figures in school history for opponent scoring average (58.7 ppg) and turnovers (16.3 pg).

-TCU leads the MWC in scoring (70.2 ppg) and offensive rebounds (14.34 pg) and ranks second in turnover margin (+5.28), steals (10.28 spg) and 3-pointers (5.83 3pg).

-TCU is 16-0 when allowing 59 points or fewer this season.

-The Frog bench has outscored the opponent bench in 24 of 29 games by an average of 8.6 ppg.

-TCU has allowed 42 points or fewer during a school-record four games this season.

-The Frogs have won the turnover battle in 21 of 29 games with five ties. Only Texas A&M, Wyoming and Utah have committed fewer turnovers than the Frogs in a contest this season.

-Ross is only 30 field-goal attempts shy of Sandora Irvin's TCU career record (1,503).

-Lorie Butler-Rayford trails No. 2 Janice Dziuk (778) on TCU's career rebounds list by only 24 boards.

-Butler-Rayford needs 53 more points to become only the 10th Frog to reach 1,000 for a career.

-Helena Sverrisdottir (9.3 ppg) is on pace to finish the season as TCU's highest-scoring freshman since Sandora Irvin (10.8 ppg) in 2001-02.

-Sverrisdottir is the only freshman to appear in the MWC statistical rankings for assists (12th), rebounding (14th) and scoring (22nd).

-Moneka Knight has set single-season career bests this year for games started, points, rebounds and steals. She also is on pace for highs in field-goal percentage and free-throw percentage.

-Helen Roden ranks second in the MWC for scoring by players with five starts or fewer (Aubrey Vandiver, Wyoming--11.1 ppg).

-The senior class of Lorie Butler-Rayford, Moneka Knight, Jenna Lohse, Adrianne Ross and Helen Roden ranks as the fourth-winningest group in program history (107-50 since 2003-04).

-The group of seniors has combined for 3,805 points, 1,852 rebounds, 1,070 assists and 734 steals during their careers.

Scouting BYU (13-14; 7-8 MWC)
BYU, winner of the last two Mountain West Conference regular season championships, enters Saturday's game in fifth place in the league standings. The team has dropped six of its last eight contests after owning a 5-2 conference mark prior to its first meeting with TCU on Feb. 5.

The Cougars boast one of the MWC's best defensive squads and lead the league in field-goal percentage defense (.348) and defensive rebounds (27.19 pg). They are totaling 53.9 points per game while allowing a 57.5-ppg scoring average. BYU's 4.00 blocked shots per game rank third in the conference.

Senior guard Mallary Carling has scored a team-best 13.5 ppg to rank eighth among all MWC players this season. Senior center Lauren Varley owns the league's top rebound average of 8.8 pg, while she also rates second in field-goal percentage at 50.3 percent and third in blocked shots (1.38 pg). Freshman guard Mindy Nielson has logged a 2.89 assist average in her first season while chipping in 7.2 ppg.

Last Meeting: TCU 73, BYU 54 (Feb. 5)
TCU concluded the first half of its Mountain West Conference schedule with a 73-54 victory over BYU Feb. 5 at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. The victory marked the Frogs' third straight win and pulled the squad into a tie for second place in the MWC standings.

Two freshmen led the Lady Frogs, as Micah Garoutte and Helena Sverrisdottir each totaled 14 points. Sverrisdottir recorded her first career double-double, as she added a personal-best 11 rebounds. Garoutte, who shot 6-of-10 from the field, broke her previous scoring high of nine points registered against Utah.

Adrianne Ross and Lorie Butler-Rayford also hit double-figures with 13 and 11 points, respectively. Butler-Rayford pulled down seven rebounds, marking her 17th game with at least six this season.

The Frogs played another solid defensive game while stepping up their rebounding against the league's top rebounding team. The efforts in both areas helped neutralize a hot-shooting Cougar squad that shot nearly seven points higher (48.1 to 41.3 percent) than TCU for the game.

The Frogs out-rebounded the Cougars by a 36-28 margin and registered 14 offensive boards to help record a 15-3 advantage in second-chance points, while they also continued to play the pressure style that had helped win the turnover battle in 17 games entering the evening. TCU reeled in 21 turnovers while committing only 12 themselves to help post a 21-4 advantage in points off turnovers.

TCU limited BYU's Mallary Gillespie-Carling, the MWC's fourth-leading scorer, to only 11 points on 5-of-13 shooting. Mindy Nielson led the Cougars with 14 points.

RPI Tracker
TCU, which hovered around the mid-100 level in the RPI rankings prior to the start of MWC play, was rated 49th Friday according to College RPI.com, which attempts to project the NCAA formula used to help assist in picking at-large bids to the NCAA field.

The Frogs sit only one spot below their season-high position of No. 48 earned prior to the Feb. 20 win over Colorado State. Seven of TCU's opponents this season appear among the ranking's top 50: LSU (8), Texas A&M (9), Utah (18), Cal (21), Oklahoma State (22), Wyoming (31) and Florida (41).

Despite a slow start to the year, TCU still appears to have a shot at its eighth straight NCAA berth. Last season's squad finished 59th in the RPI while earning an at-large bid.