Natasha Lacy scored 23 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as the TCU Horned Frogs snapped the U women’s four-game win streak Saturday afternoon in Fort Worth, Texas, 69-56.
It was just the fifth loss of the season for Utah (13-5, 4-3), but four of the losses have come on the road.
Ute forward Kim Smith led all players with 24 points and 16 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Frogs.
After a back-and-forth contest during the first 15 minutes of the opening half, the Utes gave up the lead to TCU 22-20 with 5:23 remaining in the half, and they weren’t able to take the lead back the rest of the game.
After going into the locker room with a 10-point deficit, 33-23, the Utes scored seven unanswered points to start the second half, pulling the score to 33-30 with 17:20 left to play.
The teams then traded shots until Utah pulled within one point of the Horned Frogs, 45-44, only to have TCU go on a 12-2 run to take a 57-46 lead with 5:11 to go.
Morgan Warburton and Camie Oakey hit back-to-back layups to bring the Utes within seven points, but Vanessa Clemintino knocked down a three-pointer for TCU, ending the Utes rally.
The Utes shot 39 percent (23-59) from the field, while TCU only hit 36 percent (22-62) of their shots. But the Utes committed 21 turnovers and allowed the Frogs to go to the free-throw line 28 times.
The Horned Frogs had four players score in double figures, Lacy (23), Adrianne Ross (12), Ashley Davis (11) and Clemintino (10), while the Utes failed to have anyone other than Smith reach double digits.
The loss repeated a continuing trend of turnovers and poor shooting and rebounding in road losses for Utah. The Utes have shot just 33 percent (78-240) from the field, 22 percent (20-91) from three-point range and have averaged nearly 17 turnovers in each of their road losses this season.
They have also been out-rebounded in each of those losses by an average margin of 44-38.
The Utes’ next three games are against MWC leaders Wyoming (14-4, 4-3 MWC), No. 17 New Mexico (16-4, 6-1 MWC) and No. 20 BYU (17-1, 6-0 MWC).
Fortunately for the Utes, they will play three of their next four games at home-where they are 8-1 this season-starting with a showdown against Wyoming on Thursday night at the Huntsman Center. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.