TCU women’s basketball returns to action with an emotional victory over UCF

After a rash of injuries forced TCU women’s basketball to cancel two Big 12 games last week, the Horned Frogs returned to action Tuesday with an emotional 66-60 win over UCF at Schollmaier Arena.

Season-ending injuries — to Jaden Owens and DaiJa Turner, along with injuries sustained by Madison Conner, Sedona Prince and Knisha Godfrey — limited TCU to just six scholarship players last week. That led TCU head coach Mark Campbell to add four walk-ons to the roster so the program would have enough players.

The fact that TCU was able to find a way to win with so many new faces and players in new roles made this one of the most memorable victories of Campbell’s career.

“It’s hard to put into words to be honest,” Campbell said. after the game “In my career I’ve never had an injury situation like this over a rough two-week stretch. In some ways you look back on your career and the blessing of how fragile being healthy is. I’ve gotten to be apart of some really good teams, and those teams stayed healthy.

“It just shows how quickly a season can turn. These youngsters, man, that’s why you never underestimate young people.”

It’s been Campbell’s preference to not have walk-ons on the roster, but things obviously changed. Among the four new additions was TCU volleyball player Sarah Sylvester. The 6-foot-3 Sylvester became the first player to play volleyball and basketball at TCU.

The Horned Frogs also added Piper Davis, Ella Hamlin and Mekhaiya Moore. All three had impressive prep basketball careers before arriving in Fort Worth.

With the new reinforcements, the Horned Frogs jumped on UCF early with a 14-4 run in the opening five minutes as four different players in the starting lineup scored. The Horned Frogs led 27-15 at the end of the first quarter.

Without Owens and Prince, Campbell went to an entirely new offense with a five out motion system (instead of the traditional pick-and-roll) that helped the Horned Frogs jump out to a 14-0 start.

“To hang 27, that was the first time we went live against someone else,” Campbell said. “To hang 27 in that quarter was special and carried the tone and carried us to the win.”

Even with the four additions, TCU was only able to use seven players in the tightly-contested league game, and signs of fatigue began to show in the second half. That’s when Campbell inserted Sylvester into the game with TCU and UCF tied at 47-47. Sylvester was met with a standing ovation, and she brought energy on the defensive end.

“It was just kind of an unreal feeling,” Sylvester said. “You never expect those types of things, a whole arena erupts for you — and I am so grateful for that — I wasn’t expecting that at all. It was such a special moment for me to hold onto for the rest of my life.”

TCU trailed most of the fourth quarter, but even with the fatigue, the Horned Frogs weren’t about to go away. Trailing 60-57, TCU outscored the Golden Knights 9-0 the rest of the way to pull out the improbable victory.

Freshman guard Victoria Flores made the biggest play of the night when she intercepted a pass with the game tied at 60-60 and scored a transition layup that put the Horned Frogs ahead for good.

Flores had had numerous opportunities to to put TCU in front but missed some shots. She didn’t let that deter her with the game on the line.

“I think Victoria is such a young player; it’s big to not put your head down in those situations,” Agnes Emma-Nnopu said. “I think she was worried about how she was playing at halftime. We told her ‘Vic you’ve got to be fearless’. We don’t care about the mistakes. This was an opportunity to grow. For her to keep attacking the basket after the missed layup and the 3, it was big.”

Speaking of big, Aaliyah Roberson and Sydney Harris formed a dynamic duo in the front court with 17 and 14 points, respectively. Roberson had started just three games before Tuesday while Harris had only appeared in three.

With new roles and a new offense, they helped carry the load with TCU missing its two leading scorers.

“I got a a lot of good passes from my teammates and good looks from my teammates,” Roberson said. “They opened up the floor for me.”

As for Harris, Campbell called her a bucket-getter and added that she was another that had to recover from injuries.

“She finds a way to put the ball in the hole at a high level,” Campbell said. “She was injured for eight weeks. She’s working out the kinks and she hasn’t had a big role, but she gave us 21 minutes of important basketball.”

Meet the new Frogs

Before selecting the four new members, TCU held open tryouts across two days. Campbell said he was blown away by the response of the TCU student body.

“These girls came to tryouts and poured their heart and souls into tryouts,” Campbell said. “They’re not in basketball shape, they haven’t been practicing. They just came from class and put on their sneakers. I mean there was one young lady that had her hooping shoes shipped overnight.”

Ultimately the four newcomers were able to separate themselves from the pack. For Sylvester, TCU volleyball coach Jason Williams was there to encourage her.

“I don’t think that’s something everyone’s head coach would be super supportive of,” Sylvester said. “He’s 100 percent full in for the team, the community, the school. He’s just been so encouraging and so supportive, he’s been such a great right hand on this.”

As for the others, Davis, a freshman from Boise, Idaho, led Timberline to a 5A state championship in 2022, and she started every game of that championship run. She was tabbed to the IdahoSports.com All-Tournament second team and earned honorable mention All-Conference accolades her senior year. Davis scored a career-high 22 points in the first round of the 2023 IHSAA 5A Girls basketball state championship.

Hamlin, a freshman from Granbury, Texas, scored over 1,500 points in her high school career and was named district Player of the Year in 2022 and 2023.

Moore is a sophomore from Brownsboro, Texas, and she led Brownsboro High to its first-ever state championship in 2022. She was named state championship MVP and was selected to the state championship All-Tournament team following Brownsboro’s title game triumph. Moore tallied more than 1,000 career points over a four-year varsity run.

Campbell couldn’t help but laugh at the fact that TCU had so many accomplished basketball players just walking around campus.

“That’s incredible. We’re one of the smaller Power Five schools in the country,” Campbell said. “Imagine some of the big schools that have some serious talent just walking around. It was really neat to see these kids; they have a high IQ and competitive spirit.

“They love the game of basketball, and they’re all in to help.”

It’s a true underdog story, and Campbell has been thankful for the support he’s received from all corners of the university.

“It’s been neat to see what TCU stands for,” Campbell said. “How the student body and community have rallied around this group. In some ways, we’re like America’s team right now.””