Clara Silva, Lanie Grant Lead No. 15 TCU Past Tarleton State 89-42 for 47th Straight Home Win

FORT WORTH, Texas. For about eight minutes, Tarleton State had the crowd at Schollmaier Arena checking the scoreboard twice. Then TCU remembered where it was playing. The No. 15 Horned Frogs turned an 11-11 tie into a 32-4 avalanche, broke the game open again with a 22-0 run after halftime and beat Tarleton State 89-42 on Sunday, Nov. 8.

The win was TCU's 47th straight at home, the longest active streak in the country, according to TCU Athletics. By Monday morning, the school noted, 1,000 days will have passed since the Horned Frogs last lost in their own building.

Clara Silva led five Frogs in double figures with 15 points, every one of them after halftime. Lanie Grant scored 14 on 5 of 7 shooting, Jadyn Wooten and Lara Somfai each added 12, and Jessie-May Hall chipped in 11 off the bench. Every TCU player who checked in scored.

Here is the ESPN box score (opens in a new tab) and TCU's recap (opens in a new tab).

A cold start from deep

The opening quarter did not look like a 47-point game. TCU missed all six of its 3-point attempts in the first 10 minutes, and Tarleton State hung around, matching the Frogs basket for basket. The score was tied at 11 late in the period.

TCU's answer was to stop settling. The Frogs closed the quarter on a 4-0 run to lead 15-11, and that small push turned out to be the start of something much bigger.

The 32-4 run

The second quarter belonged entirely to TCU. The Frogs made 10 of 18 shots in the period, finally found the range with three 3s and outscored Tarleton State 28-7. Counting the end of the first quarter, TCU scored 32 of 36 points after the 11-11 tie and led 43-15 with 35 seconds left in the half.

The defense did as much as the offense. Tarleton State went more than seven minutes without a field goal in the second quarter, and the Texans' turnovers kept feeding TCU's transition game. Wooten was the engine early, with 10 of her 12 points before halftime, and the Frogs took a 43-18 lead into the break.

Silva takes over the third

If the first half was about the guards, the third quarter was Silva's. The center did not score in the first 20 minutes, then poured in 12 points in the third quarter alone and finished with 15 on 6 of 11 shooting and 3 of 4 at the line. It was her 41st consecutive start at center, according to TCU.

TCU won the third quarter 23-15 to lead 66-33. Then came the second knockout punch. A 22-0 run that stretched across the end of the third and into the fourth pushed the score to 79-33, and the Frogs eventually led by as many as 52 before the reserves closed it out.

Tarleton State shot 33 percent from the field for the game, 16 of 48, and made 4 of 19 from 3. Caroline Lyles was the Texans' lone double-figure scorer with 10 points on 4 of 7 shooting, including two 3s. Olivia Medford added seven, and Lucia Navarro had six points and seven rebounds. Stephany Gonçalves played a team-high 29 minutes and handed out three assists but made 3 of 10 shots. As a group, Tarleton State's five starters shot a combined 12 of 37 from the field.

Balance, again

The most telling number for TCU might be five. That is how many Frogs reached double figures, and it was the second straight game the team managed it, according to TCU Athletics.

Grant was the most efficient of the group. She made 5 of 7 shots, 3 of 5 from deep, and handed out four assists without a turnover. After three games, she is 8 of 19 from 3 this season, 42 percent, per the school.

Somfai gave the Frogs a physical presence inside with 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds, four of them on the offensive glass. Wooten filled every column with 12 points, six assists and five rebounds, and she reached 300 career assists in the process.

Hall was the spark off the bench, scoring 11 points with four assists in 23 minutes. Clara Bielefeld added eight points and four rebounds, Laura Vilcinskas made 5 of 6 free throws for seven points with two steals, and Camille Williams, Avery Hjelmstad and Sarah Portlock all got into the scoring column. Bella Hines made her first collegiate start and scored two points. TCU's bench outscored Tarleton State's 34-11.

The minutes tell the same story. No Frog played more than Wooten's 28, Grant logged 27, and Hall and Bielefeld each got 23 off the bench. Silva and Somfai, who did most of the work inside, played only 18 and 19 minutes. That is a rotation built to stay fresh into March rather than one leaning on a couple of stars to bail it out in November, and it gives Campbell real options when foul trouble or matchups call for a different look.

Numbers behind the rout

TCU shot 50 percent from the field, 33 of 66, and recovered from its 0 of 6 start from 3 to make seven of its final 19 attempts. The Frogs went 16 of 20 at the line.

They also controlled the possession game. TCU outrebounded Tarleton State 43-24, including 18 offensive rebounds, and forced 22 turnovers while committing only 11. Those turnovers turned into 26 TCU points, according to the AP. The Frogs assisted on 25 of their 33 field goals, the kind of ratio that tends to follow a team that is moving the ball rather than going one on one.

Head coach Mark Campbell picked up his 90th win at TCU. His teams are now 26-0 in November games and 40-2 in nonconference play since he arrived, according to TCU Athletics.

What the streak means

Home streaks get talked about more in February, when conference opponents are trying to end them. Still, the number TCU is building is remarkable. The 47 straight home wins are tied for the 19th-longest run in Division I women's basketball history, according to the school, and 24 of those 47 wins have come by at least 30 points.

That is the identity Campbell has built in Fort Worth: a team that turns its own floor into a place where opponents rarely get comfortable. Tarleton State, which arrived 1-0, found that out once the first quarter ended.

What is next

TCU improved to 3-0 and kept its spot at No. 15 in the AP poll released the next day. The Frogs host Iona on Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 4 p.m. at Schollmaier Arena as part of a doubleheader with the TCU men. After that, TCU faces Southeastern Louisiana on Thursday, Nov. 12, Abilene Christian on Nov. 15, UT Arlington on Nov. 18 and Utah State on Nov. 22.

Tarleton State fell to 1-1 and returns home to host Sul Ross State on Wednesday, Nov. 11.

The takeaway

The slow start is the only thing TCU will want to look at twice. The Frogs missed their first six 3s, let an outmatched opponent hang around for a quarter, and needed the second period to find their rhythm. Once they did, the gap in talent and depth showed up everywhere: on the glass, in transition and in a bench that could play starter minutes without the level dropping.

Bigger tests are on the way, including a Nov. 27 meeting with Georgia Tech. For now, the streak lives, the balance is real and the Frogs are making 1,000 days without a home loss look routine.

For more women's college basketball, see the latest women's AP Top 25.

Sources: ESPN box score, TCU Athletics, Associated Press.

Photo: TCU Athletics.