No. 10 TCU storms past BYU 63-46 to open its women’s Big 12 Tournament title defense

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Marta Suarez had 17 points and eight rebounds, Taylor Bigby scored 11 of her 13 points in the first quarter, and No. 10 TCU began the defense of its women’s Big 12 Tournament championship with a 63-46 quarterfinal victory over BYU on Friday.

Olivia Miles added 10 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for the top-seeded Horned Frogs (28-4), who will play No. 12 seed Kansas State in the semifinals on Saturday.

Delaney Gibb scored 17 points to lead the ninth-seeded Cougars (22-11), who finished the regular season with three straight wins, and then beat Houston and Utah in the first two rounds of the conference tournament to help their NCAA Tournament hopes.

The Horned Frogs certainly looked like a team riding a six-game win streak into the postseason. They held BYU to a single field goal over the first 5 1/2 minutes, built a 24-8 lead by the end of the first quarter and led by as many as 18 in the second.

TCU did it all without a whole lot from Miles, too. The Big 12 player of the year was 0 for 3 from the field and had three turnovers in a scoreless first half, while her foul in the final seconds allowed BYU to hit a free throw to close within 32-19 at the break.

Miles finally hit two free throws of her own in the opening seconds of the third quarter, though, and her first field goal later in the period came at the perfect time. It stopped a 9-0 run by the Cougars that had trimmed their deficit in half.

TCU stretched its lead back to 46-30 to start the fourth quarter and led comfortably the rest of the way.

Up next

BYU has a nervous wait to learn whether its late-season surge was enough to get into the NCAA tourney.

TCU beat the Wildcats 77-55 on Dec. 20 in their only meeting of the season.

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