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Van Lith has double-double and TCU women going to 1st Sweet 16 in after 85-70 win over Louisville

Van Lith has double-double and TCU women going to 1st Sweet 16 in after 85-70 win over Louisville

NBC Sports24-03-2025

Agnes Emma-Nnopu scored 23 points with four 3-pointers, Hailey Van Lith had a double-double against her former team and second-seeded TCU advanced to its first NCAA Sweet 16 in the women's NCAA Tournament with an 85-70 win over seventh-seeded Louisville on Sunday.
Van Lith had 16 points and 10 assists after going to a Final Four and two other Elite Eight games with Louisville from 2021-23. She played in her 19th tourney game, the most among active players, after going to another Elite Eight with LSU last season.
Sedona Prince had 19 points and Donovyn Hunter 18, including three 3-pointers in a 17-0 run that put the Horned Frogs (33-3) ahead to stay.
Jayda Curry had a career-high 41 points for the Cardinals (22-11). She already had 15 of those when when she made a jumper that put them up 17-13 with 2:57 left in the first quarter. before TCU's game-turning run when Van Lith made the go-ahead basket.
Before winning twice at home when hosting for the first time, the Big 12 champion Horned Frogs hadn't even made the NCAA field in 15 years — and last won a tourney game since 2006. They were 1-17 in conference games two years ago before Mark Campbell became their coach and has since brought in 11 transfers, most with NCAA experience.
They are now headed to Birmingham, Alabama, and a rematch with third-seeded Notre Dame (28-5). TCU beat the Fighting Irish 76-68 in the Cayman Islands on Nov. 29, an early indication of what could be a special season for the Frogs.
Curry opened the game with a steal and a breakaway layup after a bad pass by Van Lith. After her fast start, the Cardinals missed 13 shots in a row before finally score again nearly six minutes into the second quarter.
Olivia Cochran finished a five-season career with Louisville by scoring 15 points.
Hunter, who was on Oregon State's team that beat Notre Dame in last year's Sweet 16, made her first 3 with 1:59 left in the first quarter to start that run. She made consecutive 3s to open the second quarter.
Emma-Nnopu was part of Stanford's national championship as a freshman in 2021 and went to another Final Four with the Cardinal as a sophomore.
Takeaways
Louisville, now with five freshmen playing regular minutes, had made it to at least the Elite Eight in five consecutive seasons before losing a first-round game last year, its only time doing that in 16 tourney appearances for coach Jeff Walz. The Cardinals would have faced Van Lith and LSU in the second round last year had they not lost to 11th-seeded Middle Tennessee.
TCU finished 21-0 inside Schollmaier Arena this season, and have won 24 home games in a row overall. The Frogs led 47-26 at halftime, matching their largest lead. They shot 70% (19 of 27) in the first half while not missing consecutive shots and twice making six in a row.

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With no players left from last season's team photo, Baylor begins summer practice with new roster
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With no players left from last season's team photo, Baylor begins summer practice with new roster

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With no players left from last season's team photo, Baylor begins summer practice with new roster
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WACO, Texas (AP) — Baylor coach Scott Drew had plenty of players for the first practice of the summer Wednesday, about two months after the team photo from last season was widely circulated on social media with an X marked over all 14 of those players since none was returning to the Bears. Only four of those players exhausted their college eligibility. Nine others left in the transfer portal and one-and-done guard VJ Edgecombe could become Baylor's highest pick ever in the NBA draft later this month. 'Guys you didn't want to lose and were valuable, we haven't had many that we've lost. Whenever you do, that just tears at a coach, because you feel like you didn't do your job,' Drew said this week. 'With the portal, I think we've all gotten used to a lot more turnover in a hurry, and not to take things necessarily personal.' The Bears rebuilt their roster with eight transfers and a four-player signing class with a five-star prospect and the son of a NBA champion. Among the 14 players at the first practice was Cameron Carr, the former Tennessee guard who transferred to Baylor in the middle of last season long after that team photo session. One of the former Bears was guard Robert Wright, who averaged 11.5 points and 4.2 assists a game as a freshman last season and had reportedly agreed to a lucrative NIL deal to stay before transferring to BYU for an even bigger package. 'You know people are going to leave. Rob, obviously, was someone we had an agreement with. When you make an agreement, you think you're done,' Drew said, without getting into any specifics. 'Obviously that was a surprise to us, but again, the staff did a great job of putting together a roster and team. That's part of, hopefully, the House settlement , where you get to a point where you know who's on your team and when they're locked in, they're locked in.' The eight incoming transfers have more than 500 of games played combined, including guards Dan Skillings, who played 100 games over three years for Cincinnati, and JJ White, who started 75 of 99 games at Omaha over the same period. Juslin Bodo Bodo is a 7-foot post from Cameroon, started all 71 of his games for NCAA Tournament team High Point the past two seasons. Obi Agbim, a 6-3 guard, was the Mountain West newcomer of the year after averaging 17.6 points and 3.4 assists in 29 games last season for Wyoming. Five-star prospect Tounde Yessoufou, a small forward from St. Joseph High School in California, leads the signing class that also includes Andre Iguodala II, whose father was a four-time champion over 19 NBA seasons with four teams; Italian forward Maikcol Perez and big man May Soyoye. Baylor, Gonzaga and Houston are the only teams to win at least one game in each of the past six NCAA Tournaments, though the Bears have lost in the second round the past four years since their national championship in 2021. Drew and his staff will get an early look at the new squad with Baylor representing the United States at the World University Games next month in Germany. 'Any year you get a foreign tour, it's huge. ... Since we're returning 0.0 (percent of our) scoring, this give us all an opportunity,' Drew said. 'The games will be good for those that can play in it. But the practices will be great for everyone. And then, the one thing everybody leaves out is you do these team-bonding activities. There's nothing better than being overseas, that really brings you together a lot more than when you have all the distractions you do in the United States.' ___ AP college basketball:

With no players left from last season's team photo, Baylor begins summer practice with new roster
With no players left from last season's team photo, Baylor begins summer practice with new roster

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timean hour ago

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With no players left from last season's team photo, Baylor begins summer practice with new roster

WACO, Texas (AP) — Baylor coach Scott Drew had plenty of players for the first practice of the summer Wednesday, about two months after the team photo from last season was widely circulated on social media with an X marked over all 14 of those players since none was returning to the Bears. Only four of those players exhausted their college eligibility. Nine others left in the transfer portal and one-and-done guard VJ Edgecombe could become Baylor's highest pick ever in the NBA draft later this month. 'Guys you didn't want to lose and were valuable, we haven't had many that we've lost. Whenever you do, that just tears at a coach, because you feel like you didn't do your job,' Drew said this week. 'With the portal, I think we've all gotten used to a lot more turnover in a hurry, and not to take things necessarily personal." The Bears rebuilt their roster with eight transfers and a four-player signing class with a five-star prospect and the son of a NBA champion. Among the 14 players at the first practice was Cameron Carr, the former Tennessee guard who transferred to Baylor in the middle of last season long after that team photo session. One of the former Bears was guard Robert Wright, who averaged 11.5 points and 4.2 assists a game as a freshman last season and had reportedly agreed to a lucrative NIL deal to stay before transferring to BYU for an even bigger package. 'You know people are going to leave. Rob, obviously, was someone we had an agreement with. When you make an agreement, you think you're done,' Drew said, without getting into any specifics. 'Obviously that was a surprise to us, but again, the staff did a great job of putting together a roster and team. That's part of, hopefully, the House settlement, where you get to a point where you know who's on your team and when they're locked in, they're locked in." The eight incoming transfers have more than 500 of games played combined, including guards Dan Skillings, who played 100 games over three years for Cincinnati, and JJ White, who started 75 of 99 games at Omaha over the same period. Juslin Bodo Bodo is a 7-foot post from Cameroon, started all 71 of his games for NCAA Tournament team High Point the past two seasons. Obi Agbim, a 6-3 guard, was the Mountain West newcomer of the year after averaging 17.6 points and 3.4 assists in 29 games last season for Wyoming. Five-star prospect Tounde Yessoufou, a small forward from St. Joseph High School in California, leads the signing class that also includes Andre Iguodala II, whose father was a four-time champion over 19 NBA seasons with four teams; Italian forward Maikcol Perez and big man May Soyoye. Baylor, Gonzaga and Houston are the only teams to win at least one game in each of the past six NCAA Tournaments, though the Bears have lost in the second round the past four years since their national championship in 2021. Drew and his staff will get an early look at the new squad with Baylor representing the United States at the World University Games next month in Germany. 'Any year you get a foreign tour, it's huge. ... Since we're returning 0.0 (percent of our) scoring, this give us all an opportunity,' Drew said. 'The games will be good for those that can play in it. But the practices will be great for everyone. And then, the one thing everybody leaves out is you do these team-bonding activities. There's nothing better than being overseas, that really brings you together a lot more than when you have all the distractions you do in the United States.'

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