FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Madison Conner had 23 points with four 3-pointers and Sedona Prince overcame two early fouls to have 16 points and 10 rebounds as second-seeded TCU won 73-51 over Fairleigh Dickinson on Friday in the Horned Frogs’ first women’s NCAA Tournament game at home.
Hailey Van Lith added 13 points and seven assists for the Big 12 champion Horned Frogs (32-3), who made their first NCAA appearance in 15 years. They have won their last 11 games.
Teneisia Brown had 18 points and Ava Renninger 12 for 15th-seeded FDU (29-4), the Northeast Conference champions who had won 22 games in a row and were in the NCAA Tournament for the first time.
There were nine early lead changes, the last when TCU went ahead to stay on Conner’s 3 from the top of the key that made it 21-20 with 7 1/2 minutes left in the first half. After Brown missed a shot while defended by Prince, the Frogs center made a short hook shot over her at the other end of the court.
The Frogs finally took a double-digit lead soon after halftime when Conner took a pass from Prince and made a 3 for a 40-29 lead.
FDU had its biggest lead after Prince went to the bench because of her second foul when reaching for an offensive rebound with 2:46 left in the first quarter. Brown then had consecutive layups on assists from Renninger for a 17-12 lead.
Prince didn’t have any more fouls after returning early in the second quarter, right before TCU took the lead for good.
The first foul against the 6-foot-7 Prince was on a charge against 5-6 guard Abby Babore, who in the second quarter then drew another charge against the 6-1 Taylor Bigby.
Takeaways
FDU: The Knights hadn’t lost since an 83-58 loss at instate New Jersey foe Rutgers on Dec. 11. This was their second season with coach Stephanie Gaitley, who made her 10th NCAA appearance with her fourth different team over a four-decade career.
TCU: While it took the Frogs a little bit to settle in and get on a roll, they got their first NCAA victory since 2006 and extended their home-court winning streak to 23 games in a row. The win came two years to the date that Mark Campbell was hired as TCU’s coach, with the team coming off a season when it was 1-17 in the Big 12.
Up next
The Horned Frogs, who never made past the second round in their previous nine NCAA appearances, host Nebraska or Louisville on Sunday. Van Lith played in three NCAA Elite 8s with Louisville from 2021-23, and another with LSU last season.
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