TCU women beat New Mexico to clinch MWC title
By MAC ENGEL
tengel@star-telegram.com
Perhaps copying a concept from its football brothers, the TCU women\'s basketball team drew up a \"Don\'t Back Down\" pyramid before the season began.
On the to-do list was to \"own Texas,\" which the Lady Frogs did by going undefeated against all seven in-state opponents on their schedule.
Also on the list was to finish undefeated at home, which they did for the first time in school history.
And on Tuesday night, the team successfully put another check on the pyramid when it won the Mountain West Conference title outright by defeating New Mexico 66-54.
TCU (22-6, 12-3 MWC) celebrated the evening with a postgame ceremony for the three seniors who played their final game at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum -- Eboni Mangum, Chantelle John and TK LaFleur.
The team then was awarded a MWC title trophy that will likely be prominently displayed in the women\'s basketball offices soon. The trophy also served as an ideal photo opportunity for the team to engulf and celebrate.
To finish the festivities, a ladder was rolled out and each member of the team and staff took a turn with a pair of scissors to cut down the net.
\"This is how I imagined it would be,\" LaFleur said amid the purple and white balloons that were dropped from the catwalk after the game. \"I\'ve been here three years and every year we\'ve been good enough to win it. But every year something always happened. This year our common goal was to win the Mountain West and we did it.\"
It\'s the third regular-season title in as many conferences for the Frogs since 2001; the others came in the WAC and Conference USA. The team locked up the top seed in the conference tournament, which means starting in the semifinals.
Of all the Lady Frogs\' titles under coach Jeff Mittie, this one comes arguably via his most balanced team.
\"Everything thinks of balance in terms of scoring, and we do have that, but this team defensively is very balanced,\" Mittie said. \"We have the ability to put out a lot of different lineups.\"
Playing against one of the six teams to beat them this season, the Lady Frogs used a 28-11 run in the final 12:21 of the first half for ample breathing room. The run appeared to end any suspense to the night for the 3,909 in attendance as TCU led at the half 36-20.
The Lobos (17-11, 9-7) briefly made a game of it by hitting six of their first seven shots to close to five points early in the second half.
\"We were very tight tonight,\" Mittie said. \"We just had spurts.\"
The Lady Frogs responded with a spurt of their own that included three 3-pointers, two by LaFleur, to inflate the lead to double digits and provide the necessary room to win the game. LaFleur led both teams with 17 points and a career-high 10 rebounds. It was her first double-double this season.
\"Everybody keeps telling me that; I had no idea,\" LaFleur said as she played with a piece of the net in her right hand. \"I\'m going to frame this next to the picture they just gave me. It\'s so many things wrapped up tonight.
\"It was perfect.\"
