TCU Women's Basketball: Big 12 Champs!

When the final buzzer sounded, a mass of purple overtook the court at Foster Pavilion as TCU women’s basketball players exploded off the bench to celebrate with their on-court teammates.

Hugs and jumping ensued and a previously raucous crowd of 7,110 fell silent.

No. 10 TCU (28-3, 16-2 Big 12) had just snuck out a 51-48 road win over its rival, No. 17 Baylor (25-7, 15-3), to secure the program’s first Big 12 Conference regular season championship in a winner-take-all setting.

Simply another milestone for the winningest team in program history.

“This tops all of them,” head coach Mark Campbell said. “To win a league title for TCU and to bring that trophy home, it’s a little surreal to be honest.”

The victory also marked the first time the Horned Frogs had beaten the Bears on consecutive tries since 1990. TCU beat Baylor earlier this season at home.

Campbell literally took TCU from worst to first in two seasons.

The Horned Frogs went 8-23, including 1-17 in the Big 12, during the 2022-23 season. Campbell spearheaded a 13-game improvement in the win column a year ago and followed that up with this conference title. TCU become the second team in Big 12 history to win the league within two seasons of finishing in last place. The Horned Frogs last won a regular season conference title in 2012 as a member of the Mountain West Conference.

Center Sedona Prince paced the Horned Frogs with 16 points, 19 rebounds and two blocks while Guard Hailey Van Lith scored 14 points, dished out two assists and blocked two shots. Baylor guard Yaya Felder and forward Aaronette Vonleh had 17 points apiece. Vonleh also grabbed 10 rebounds.

“Not a lot of people understand how hard it is to win a regular season championship,” Van Lith said. “That means you have to dominate consistently over the course of a league season. That just says a lot about us and the level we’ve been able to play at.”

During the postgame celebration, Van Lith slipped away to hug Campbell. Their relationship dates back to her high school days when Campbell was an assistant at Oregon. Van Lith ultimately landed at Louisville for three seasons and then played at LSU last year. Her commitment to TCU almost a year ago became the linchpin Campbell needed for this historic run.

“For her to lead us to a 28-3 record after everything she’s been through in her college career, I’m so happy and proud of her,” Campbell said. “There’s nobody that deserves it more than Hailey Van Lith.”

TCU’s postgame celebration almost never happened as the team let a 49-39 lead fade in the final two minutes. Vonleh hit a jumper with 13 seconds left to make the score 50-48. Van Lith then hit a free throw and Felder missed an open three-pointer.

The Horned Frogs built the 10-point advantage off a 15-3 run spanning the third and fourth quarters. Guards Taylor Bigby and Agnes Emma-Nnopu got the Horned Frogs going with three pointers on consecutive possessions.

“Everybody throws different things at me and Hailey and Sedona, but, at the end of the day, you have to have a whole team,” guard Madison Conner said. “They come in with a mindset of they want to do whatever it takes to win the game. Those are the most important players on teams, to be honest, and some teams don’t have those.”

Conner finished with seven points, three rebounds, and two assists.

The Horned Frogs fell flat at times offensively and committed 18 turnovers, which the Bears converted into 20 points. A five second violation on an inbound late in the game led to Vonleh’s final jumper.

TCU’s defense helped seal the deal as it has done many times this season. The Horned Frogs held the Bears to 28% shooting (18-of-65) and won the rebounding battle, 46-38.

Prince provided an early spark with 10 points in the first quarter. The Horned Frogs rode that to a 12-7 lead at the end of the first quarter and extended that to a 27-21 halftime advantage. The Bears then went on a 13-2 run in the third quarter and held a 36-34 lead for about 40 seconds before the tide shifted.

“All the experiences and games that we’ve struggled with and environments that we’ve had to play in leading up to this, it really prepared us for this moment,” Van Lith said.  

Securing the title on Baylor’s court became a full circle moment since TCU’s undoing last season started in Waco. Prince broke her finger during that game and within two weeks a rash of injuries forced the team to hold open tryouts. The Horned Frogs finished 21-12 and made the WBIT postseason tournament.

Campbell said his wife provided encouragement throughout that entire time, telling him the Lord was setting the stage for something more.

“Come to find out she was doggone right,” Campbell said. “This was a really special moment for Sedona to come full circle. As a program, Baylor’s been the powerhouse, the juggernaut in our league for a long time … To beat them in this environment, it shows you that our program’s arrived at the highest level of college basketball.”

With the win, TCU secured the top seed at the Phillips 66 Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship in Kansas City and will get a double bye into the quarterfinal round. The Horned Frogs play Friday, March 7 at 1:30 p.m. on ESPNU against either Arizona (8 seed), Colorado (9 seed) or Houston (16 seed).

The Horned Frogs plan to enjoy the championship and everything it represents, but there’s still more work ahead. From here on out, it’s win or go home.

And this team has proven, time and again, its focus is always straight ahead.

“We celebrate this tonight,” Conner said. “Obviously, we’ve worked so hard this whole season for this moment, but not only for this moment, for March. It’s here, so this is just a start.”