FORT WORTH
TCU women’s basketball passed its first test of March Madness with flying colors in an 86-40 win over UC San Diego on Friday, and now Washington is the only thing standing between the Horned Frogs and a second straight Sweet 16.
Third-seeded TCU (30-5) and the No. 6 Huskies (22-10) will face off in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at 9 p.m. Sunday at Schollmaier Arena. The Horned Frogs are 8.5-point favorites, and the total is 126.5.
Washington is led by the backcourt featuring two All Big Ten guards in junior Sayvia Sellers and sophomore Avery Howell. Howell led the Huskies with 30 points in their 72-54 first-round win over South Dakota State on Friday. In the regular season, the guard duo averaged 32.2 points per game, with both players being dangerous from beyond the arc (Sellers 35.5% and Howell 42.7%).
Junior guard Donovyn Hunter is one of TCU’s best on-ball defenders, and she described how the Horned Frogs plan on slowing down the Huskies’ guards.
“I think if we’re just intentional with being in our spots, making sure we have our hands in people’s shot pockets, just the small little things that we have to do on defense,” she said. “… We’re going to make sure that we’re in our spots all the time. We’re running back, we’re defending transition, we’re doing all these other things. I think our team’s able to put together a game worth of good defense.”
TCU is more than capable of putting together a good game on defense, as the Horned Frogs are the 14th-ranked defensive team in the country and have dominated on that side of the floor throughout the season.
Graduate forward Marta Suárez acknowledged that TCU would have to contend with a strong Washington team, but pointed out that the Horned Frogs’ own highly potent offense had to be dealt with.
“We’re in a great position where we just got to take care of our basketball,” she said. “We just got to do what we’re going to do. We don’t gotta do anything special but keep them in front, contain. That’s what we’ve been doing all year long. That’s what we’re capable of doing. And then let’s see what they got for us. They got to play defense on us.”
Game schedule dates, times, locations March 12 Mavericks 120, Memphis 112 March 13 Cleveland 138, Mavericks 105 March 15 Mavericks 130, Cleveland 120 March 16 New Orleans 129, Mavericks 111 March 18 Atlanta 135, Mavericks 120 March 21 vs. L.A. Clippers, 7:30 p.m., KFAA, MavsTV March 23 vs. Golden State, 8:30 p.m., Peacock, NBC Sports Network March 25 at Denver, 9 p.m., KFAA, MavsTV March 27 at Portland, 9 p.m., KFAA, MavsTV, NBA TV March 30 vs. Minnesota, 7:30 p.m., KFAA, MavsTV March 7 TCU 73, Cincinnati 63 Big 12 Tournament (at Kansas City, Mo.) March 11 No. 6 TCU 95, No. 14 Oklahoma State 88 (second round) March 12 No. 3 Kansas 78, No. 6 TCU 73 (quarterfinals) NCAA Tournament (at Greenville, S.C.) March 19 No. 9 TCU 66, No. 8 Ohio State 64 (first round) March 21 No. 1 Duke 81, No. 9 TCU 58 (second round) March 1 TCU 65, Baylor 53 Big 12 Tournament (at Kansas City, Mo.) March 6 No. 1 TCU 63, No. 9 BYU 46 (quarterfinals) March 7 No. 1 TCU 74, No. 12 Kansas State 62 (semifinals) March 8 No. 2 West Virginia 62, No. 1 TCU 53 (championship) NCAA Tournament March 20 No. 3 TCU 86, No. 14 UC San Diego 40 March 22 vs. No. 6 Washington (at Schollmaier Arena), 9 p.m., ESPN March 26 at Philadelphia, 3:15 p.m., RSN March 28 at Philadelphia, 3:05 p.m., RSN March 29 at Philadelphia, 12:35 p.m., RSN March 30 at Baltimore, 5:35 p.m., RSN March 31 at Baltimore, 5:35 p.m., RSN April 1 at Baltimore, 11:35 a.m., RSN March 13 TCU 5, Arizona State 4 March 14 Arizona State 15, TCU 8 March 15 Arizona State 4, TCU 0 March 17 TCU 16, New Mexico State 6 (7 innings) March 20 Central Florida 18, TCU 7 March 21 vs. Central Florida, 5 p.m., ESPN+ March 22 vs. Central Florida, 1 p.m., ESPN+ March 24 at Dallas Baptist, 6 p.m., ESPN+ March 27 vs. Texas Tech, 6 p.m., ESPN+ March 28 vs. Texas Tech, 2 p.m., ESPN+ March 29 vs. Texas Tech, 1 p.m., ESPN+ March 10 Stars 2, Vegas 1 March 12 Stars 7, Edmonton 2 March 14 Stars 3, Detroit 2 (OT) March 16 Utah 6, Stars 3 March 18 Stars 2, Colorado 1 (SO) March 21 at Minnesota, 3 p.m., Victory+ March 22 vs. Vegas, 6 p.m., NHL Network, Victory+ March 24 vs. New Jersey, 7 p.m., KDFI 27, Victory+ March 26 at N.Y. Islanders, 6 p.m., Victory+ March 28 at Pittsburgh, 4 p.m., Victory+ 2026 season Aug. 29 vs. North Carolina (at Dublin), TBA Sept. 12 vs. Grambling State, TBA Sept. 19 vs. Arkansas State, TBA Sept. 26 at Central Florida, TBA Oct. 3 vs. BYU, TBA Oct. 17 at Baylor, TBA Oct. 24 vs. West Virginia, TBA Oct. 31 vs. Kansas, TBA Nov. 7 at Arizona, TBA Nov. 14 vs. Kansas State, TBA Nov. 21 vs. Utah, TBA Nov. 28 at Texas Tech, TBA 2026 season TBA vs. TBA (at Rio de Janeiro), TBA 2026 opponents (dates and times TBA; one home game will be in Rio) vs. N.Y Giants vs. Philadelphia vs. Washington vs. Arizona vs. San Francisco vs. Tampa Bay vs. Jacksonville vs. Tennessee vs. Baltimore at N.Y Giants at Philadelphia at Washington at L.A. Rams at Seattle at Green Bay at Houston at Indianapolis Feb. 21 FC Dallas 3, Toronto 2 Feb. 28 FC Dallas 0, Nashville 0 March 7 LAFC 1, FC Dallas 0 March 14 FC Dallas 3, San Diego 3 March 21 vs. Houston, 7:30 p.m., Apple TV April 4 at D.C. United, 6:30 p.m., Apple TV April 11 vs. St. Louis, 7:30 p.m., Apple TV April 18 vs. LA Galaxy, 7:30 p.m., Apple TV April 22 vs. Minnesota, 7:30 p.m., Apple TV March 21 POWRi Racing March 28 Mopar Heaven April 11 NASCAR Racing Experience April 18 Team Texas-David Starr’s Racing School April 18 Bubble Run April 23-25 Pate Swap Meet April 25 FuelFest April 30-May 2 High Limit Racing Stockyard Stampede May 1 NASCAR Truck Series: SpeedyCash.com 250 May 2 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series: Andy’s Frozen Custard 340 May 3 NASCAR Cup Series: Wurth 400
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Lawrence Dow is a digital sports reporter from Philadelphia. He graduated with a master’s degree in journalism from USC. He’s passionate about movies and is always looking for a great book. He covers the Texas Rangers and other sports.