Rash of injuries force TCU's women's basketball to cancel games, hold open tryouts

TCU began the season undefeated in non-conference play for the first time in program history and ranked for the first time since February, 2023. Then, injuries took over, stalling any sort of momentum that was gained during the first part of the season. 

The injuries began earlier this month when star grad student center Sedona Prince was sidelined with a broken finger. There is currently no timeline for Prince to return, but she is expected to play again this season according to ESPN's Alexa Phillippou. 

Then, grad student point guard Jaden Owens tore her ACL against Houston on Saturday. The team announced that she would miss the rest of the season. 

Redshirt sophomore forward DaiJa Turner, who had replaced Prince in the starting lineup, was the next Horned Frog to get bit with the injury bug. Turner attempted to play through an ankle injury suffered earlier in the season, but re-aggravated it during a practice, forcing her to miss the rest of the campaign.

According to Steven Johnson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, TCU is now down to just six scholarship players after "a number of players" in addition to Turner sustained injuries in practice Tuesday. 

It has not been announced which players outside of Prince, Owens and Turner are also injured. 

Something similar happened last season with IUPUI Men's Basketball. Down to just six available players, they held an open tryout so that they could run more effective practices and put their available players in the best position to succeed. 

TCU has been one of the better programs in the country this season and has greatly benefited from NIL, getting the commitment of high-profile transfers like Prince for this season and former Miami guard Haley Cavinder for next season. 

However, they've taken a big step back by making the decision to forfeit games. Despite only having six scholarship players, they do have walk-ons available who are able to play in games. While it may not be ideal, they can still field a team. 

The decision to forfeit these games and the apparent mismanagement of Turner's injury are a stain on a program that looked like it was becoming a powerhouse in the Big 12.