FDU women's historic basketball season ends with loss to TCU in NCAA Tournament opener
FDU closed out its historic campaign with a 73-51 loss to No. 2-seeded TCU in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament at the Birmingham 3 Regional at Schollmaier Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
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FDU, the Northeast Conference champions, finished with a 29-4 record, the most wins in program history.
TCU (32-3) won its 11th straight game and will advance to the second round, where it will face the winner of Friday's No. 7 Louisville vs. No. 10 Nebraska opening-round matchup. The win was the Horned Frogs' first NCAA Tournament victory in 19 years.
The No. 15-seeded Knights, playing in their first NCAA Tournament in program history, got off to a promising start Friday when they closed out the first period with a 17-14 lead. Despite shooting 2-of-9 to open the game, FDU went 6-of-7 the rest of the quarter with Teneisia Brown (18 points, four rebounds) shooting 4-of-5 from the field for eight points.
But the Horned Frogs picked up the pace in the second, outscoring the Knights, 21-10, in the period. Madison Conner had 13 points in the first half, while FDU missed 7-of-8 shots in the quarter. Conner finished with a game-high 23 points and teammate Sedona Prince netted 13 points.
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The host team kept up the pressure to start the second half, building a double-digit lead early in the third quarter. TCU went on a 9-2 run over the last four minutes of the quarter to take a commanding 52-35 lead.
FDU saw its school-record 22-game win streak come to a halt since dropping an 83-58 contest to Rutgers on Dec. 11 in Piscataway.
Earlier this month FDU clinched the NEC regular-season title, finishing 16-0 in conference play. They're the first NEC team to finish with a perfect record since Quinnipiac went undefeated in 2012-13.
Coach Stephanie Gaitley, who took over in Teaneck prior to the 2023-24 season, guided her fourth team to "The Big Dance." Previously, she led Richmond, Saint Joseph's and Fordham, to the NCAA Tournament.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: FDU women's basketball team loses to TCU in NCAA Tournament first round
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