FORT WORTH, Texas (Interstat) — In a defensive struggle defined by prolonged scoring droughts and critical offensive inefficiency, the Texas Christian Lady Frogs used a dominant first half to secure a 65-53 victory over the Baylor Lady Bears in a Big 12 Conference women’s basketball game Sunday at Dickies Arena.

A crowd of 6,330 watched as TCU, improving to 27-4 overall, avenged a regular-season split by controlling the game from the opening tip and never trailing. Baylor, which had won three of its last four, fell to 24-7.

The game’s most pivotal stretch arrived early and set an insurmountable tone. Baylor’s offense was rendered nearly inert in the first half, particularly in a disastrous opening quarter. The Lady Bears managed just seven points in the first period, missing 11 of their first 13 shots from the field and committing five turnovers. This allowed TCU to build a 15-7 lead after one quarter, an advantage that would only grow.

Baylor’s struggles compounded in the second quarter. The team endured a scoring drought that spanned nearly six full minutes, from the 8:14 mark until 2:26 remained in the half. During this stretch, Baylor missed eight consecutive field goal attempts and turned the ball over three times. TCU, while not explosive, methodically extended its lead. A three-pointer from Marta Suárez with 3:53 left in the half gave the Lady Frogs their largest lead of the game at 26-15. Baylor’s first-half totals were staggering: 15 points on 6-of-28 shooting, including 1-of-12 from three-point range, with nine turnovers.

The second half provided only a modest offensive resurgence for Baylor. The Lady Bears showed life in the third quarter, scoring 19 points behind the efforts of Taliah Scott and Marcayla Johnson. A jumper by Scott with five seconds left in the third briefly cut the deficit to 46-42, marking the closest Baylor had been since early in the first quarter and injecting a flicker of suspense into the contest.

However, TCU’s star duo of Suárez and Olivia Miles promptly extinguished any hope of a comeback. The Lady Frogs opened the fourth quarter with a decisive 9-2 run. Suárez, a 6-foot-3 forward from Oviedo, Spain, ignited the spurt with a three-pointer, and Miles followed with a driving layup. When Clara Silva converted an offensive rebound into a putback with 7:28 remaining, TCU’s lead was back to a comfortable 11 points at 55-44. Baylor would never again threaten, as every subsequent basket was answered by the steady TCU offense, which shot 15-of-18 from the free-throw line to seal the game.

Suárez led all scorers with 21 points, adding four assists. Miles, a guard from Phillipsburg, New Jersey, was equally instrumental, finishing with 19 points and three assists. Their combined 40 points provided the consistent offensive engine TCU required on a day where overall field goal percentages were low.

Baylor was led by Taliah Scott’s 17 points, though she needed 22 shots to reach that total, emblematic of her team’s shooting woes. Marcayla Johnson provided a spark off the bench with 11 points. As a team, the Lady Bears shot just 34.5% from the field and a frigid 18.5% from beyond the arc. Their offensive rating of 73.4 points per 100 possessions underscored a afternoon of profound struggle against a disciplined TCU defense.

The Lady Frogs, who shot 39.6% from the field, won despite committing 16 turnovers, due largely to their superior efficiency at the free-throw line and a 93.5 offensive rating. Taylor Bigby contributed 12 points for TCU, while Silva added seven points and a game-high eight rebounds.

The victory further solidifies TCU’s position near the top of the conference standings as the postseason approaches, while Baylor will look to rectify its offensive inconsistencies before its next outing.