http://www.gofrogs.com/sports/w-baskbl/recaps/030416aaa.html
Kansas Advances With Win Over TCU
Final Stats |  Notes
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. —Â Kansas answered TCU’s early second half rally and pulled away to beat the Horned Frogs 81-64 on Friday night in the opening round of the 2016 Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Championships at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Sophomore AJ Alix had 16 points, senior Veja Hamilton had 12 points and senior Zahna Medley added 10 points to lead the Horned Frogs, who shot juts 36.2 percent in the game and 5-of-16 from three-point range.
“Kansas absolutely deserved this win and we absolutely did not, playing Kansas the times that we’ve played them prior to this game, watching them it was always shocking to me that they hadn’t won a game,” said head coach Raegan Pebley. “They played very hard. They played good defense, you know. They just had gone through scoring droughts, and the last two games that we’ve played against Kansas I feel like they didn’t have those droughts. They were very disciplined, they executed well and we did not. We did not deserve to win this game, unfortunately, I wish I could say differently, but we just did not come out and sustain the level of effort that was going to be required to play a team as disciplined as Kansas.”
Kansas took an early 9-2 lead after hitting their first four shots of the game after Carol Willie’s early hoop. Following a media timeout with 4:52 in the opening quarter, the Frogs forced a shot clock violation and got a basket from Jordan Moore inside to end a streak of six straight missed field goal attempts by TCU. The Frogs eventually pulled even at 11 following a 9-2 to run that included Moore’s basket, a three from Toree Thompson, another basket inside from Moore and a transition basket from Veja Hamilton. A pair of three-point field goals late in the quarter sandwiched a Hamilton basket to give Kansas a four-point edge after 10 minutes at 17-13.
Senior Destynee Hives-McCray hit a free throw to open the second quarter before the Jayhawks scored six straight to build a nine-point lead that forced a TCU timeout with 7:27 to go in the period. The run eventually reached 11-0 as Kansas built a 28-14. The Frogs missed their first five shots of the second quarter before Hamilton’s floater ended the stretch.
Kansas would lead by as many as 15 in the opening half at 32-17 before TCU made a run. The Frogs would go on a 15-3 run to pull within 35-32 on a basket from Hives-McCray under the basket on a great pass from Hamilton with 1:34 left in the half. The run saw the Frogs get points from an array of locations, including six from the free throw line, a three from Medley and additional baskets from Medley, Hamilton and Hives-McCray.
Kansas then scored the final seven points of the first half to take a 10-point lead into the break. The Jayhawks shot 58.1 percent in the opening half while the Frogs converted on just 11-of-28 attempts in the opening 20 minutes of play.
The Frogs scored the first seven out of the break, including five from AJ Alix, to pull within 42-39 in the opening three minutes of the half. But Kansas quickly answered with nine straight of their own.
Kansas answered every TCU attempt to fight back into the game and led by double digits the remainder of the game.
NOTES
• Senior Zahna Medley, TCU’s all-time career leading scorer, finished with 10 points and now has 1,921 in her career.
o Medley, TCU’s all-time career leading three-point field goal shooter, hit one three-point field goal and now has 308 in her TCU career.
o Medley scored in double figures for the 96th time in her career and 25th time this season.
• Sophomore AJ Alix had 16 points, scoring in double figures for the 19th time this season and 20th time this season.
• Senior Veja Hamilton had 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting. Hamilton reached double figures for the 15th time this season and for the 43rd time in her career — reaching the mark before halftime.