TCU Women's Basketball: No. 17 Frogs Upset No. 10 NC State 69-59; Rise in Rankings

By Tom C. "Midnite" Burke

The TCU women’s basketball team prevented a quartet of failures happening against ranked opponents by Horned Frogs teams this past weekend.

The then-17th-ranked Frogs defeated then-10th-ranked North Carolina State 69-59 in Raleigh’s James T. Valvano Arena, on Sunday, November 16. The game was televised by ESPN.

TCU athletic teams had faltered three times against ranked opponents prior to the women's basketball team's upset win. 

On Friday, November 14, the Horned Frogs’ men’s basketball team lost 67-63 to then-sixth-ranked Michigan in TCU’s Schollmaier Arena.

On Saturday, November 15, the TCU football team was clawed and devoured by the No. 12 BYU Cougars in Provo, Utah.

On Sunday, November 17, TCU’s second-ranked rifle team was upset in a home match against ninth-ranked Ole Miss. 

Tom C. Burke

The win over NC State improved TCU to 4-0 overall and vaulted the Frogs into 10th place in the new Associated Press Top 25 women’s college basketball poll. With the loss, the Wolfpack fell to 2-2 overall and 16th in the poll.

UConn, the defending national champion, is number one. South Carolina is second, UCLA third, Texas fourth and LSU fifth. Michigan is sixth, Baylor seventh, Oklahoma eighth and Maryland ninth.

This was TCU’s second consecutive win over NC State and it snapped the Wolfpack's 24-game home winning streak. Last season, the Frogs upset then-No. 13 NC State 76-73 in Schollmaier Arena.

Graduate forward Marta Suarez, who is a transfer from Cal/Tennessee, played the entire 40 minutes of the game and led the Frogs in scoring with a career-high 26 points.

Suarez led TCU in scoring for the second time this season. She has scored in double figures in three of her four outings as a Frog.

For her performance against NC State, Suarez was named to the Big 12's "Starting Five" for the week of February 17. She was joined in the weekly award by Iowa State's Audi Crooks and Addy Brown, Cincinnati's Caliyah DeVllasee and West Virginia's Sydney Shaw.

The weekly Big 12 women's basketball "Starting Five" highlights strong performances from across the league. 

Sophomore center Clara Silva, who is a transfer from Kentucky, and graduate guard Olivia Miles, who is a transfer from Notre Dame, recorded double-doubles.

Silva scored 11 points and pulled down a career-high 12 rebounds, for her first carer double-double.

Miles, who has been named to the Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 Watch List as determined by a poll of national college basketball experts, scored 15 points and had a career-high 14 rebounds. It was her 27th career double-double.

The Wooden Award has been presented annually to the nation's top player for the past 50 years.  

Miles and Silva became the first TCU duo to record a double-double in the same game since Sedona Prince (31 points, 16 rebounds) and Hailey Van Lith (18 points, 10 rebounds) did so against NC State last season. 

Junior guard Donovyn Hunter, who is a transfer from Oregon State, scored 11 points, which were her most-ever in a road game as a Horned Frog. She has scored in double figures in all four games this season.

Hunter also defended Zoe Brooks, NC State's leading scorer. Brooks entered the game averaging 17 points per game, but Hunter held the 5-10 guard to just six points,

“Incredible win in an awesome college basketball environment. Man, I’m so proud of this group to come in here against a really good ball club, and a sold-out arena. We have four new starters and 10 new players.” TCU head coach Mark Campbell said. “They just found a way to get it done. I couldn’t be prouder of this team. This was a huge win for our program.”

The victory over North Carolina State was only the second time TCU has defeated a top-10 team on the road. The first time was on December 7, 2008, when the Frogs defeated No. 3 Cal, 82-73.

The win was the Horned Frogs first ranked road victory in non-conference play since January 2, 2011, when they defeated No. 14 Oklahoma 76-69.

The battle against the Wolfpack was only the third top 25 non-conference road game TCU has ever played in. 

TCU’s next game is against Tarleton State, at 6:30 pm, on Thursday, November 20, in Schollmaier Arena. The game will be televised by ESPN+.

With a win over the Texans, the Horned Frogs will record their 28th consecutive home win and will surpass TCU women's basketball's run of 27 consecutive home wins from 2008-10 as the longest in school history.

TCU’s 27-game home winning streak is the longest active streak in Division 1.