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Nobody should have to play Natasha Mack twice in a week.
Though she wasn’t quite as dominant statistically as she was Wednesday, when she posted a triple double of points, rebounds, and blocks, Mack still helped lead her team to another easy win over a Horned Frogs’ team that has had a really tough stretch of games. After the game, Raegan Pebley called her a “really special player” and mentioned that, while they did a better job containing her Saturday, they still have a lot of work to do when it comes to their interior defense.
For the third consecutive contest, TCU was out of the ball game early, trailing by 14 after a first quarter in which they turned it over nine times, and by 15 at the half — despite a 13 point effort in the first 20 minutes by Lauren Heard.
The Cowgirls kept pouring it on in the third quarter, dropping 26 points on offense and holding TCU to just 14 for the second consecutive quarter. Mack was perfect from the floor (7-7) and the free throw line (3-3) in that ten minutes of court time, dropping 17 of her game-high 19 points in the frame. By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, the game was all but over, and despite a spirited effort on both ends of the floor by the Horned Frogs, but they never could fully close the gap.
Oklahoma State finished with three players in double figures — including Mack’s double-double — while only Heard (22) crossed that threshold for TCU. Michelle Berry chipped in nine points and Kayla Mokwuah and Amari Conn added six a piece. The Frogs out-rebounded OSU 44-37, but shot just 29.4% from the field and did not attempt a single free throw on the day. Meanwhile, the Pokes hit on 46% of their field goal attempts and went 11-15 from the line, winning the turnover battle 17-9 as well.
The Frogs will travel to #17 Texas Thursday, a replacement for the originally scheduled game at Kansas State. Things don’t get any easier for TCU in the Big 12, but they will have a few days to regroup and refocus before their next challenge. Coach Raegan Pebley isn’t ready to write this group off, though, and believes that the best is yet to come for her Horned Frogs. “Any loss and every loss is disappointing, but this is definitely a team that is trying to rebuild and refocus — and we are going to. Things will get better, I am confident in that. I’m really confident, that as we get healthier and get people more experience, we will get better.”