No. 16 West Virginia women's basketball gave everything they had on Saturday afternoon in Kansas City. It just wasn't quite enough.
The Mountaineers took the floor as the fourth-seed in the Big 12 semifinals against first-seed No. 8 TCU -- the Mountaineers had just gotten their second win of the season over Top 25 foe Kansas State in the quarterfinals the day prior, and were looking to ride their momentum to the conference championship game and a potential opportunity to host during opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
The teams traded the lead early, but a chronic issue this season for the Mountaineers reared it's ugly head -- WVU went cold and fell victim to an inconsistent quarter of play, getting outscored by the Horned Frogs 23-12 in the second period of play.
The Mountaineers would rally strong in the second half and cut the deficit to five points behind an impressive half-court buzzer beater from Jordan Harrison to close the third quarter -- but TCU had just a little too much gas left in their tank to allow a comeback.
Paced a combined 53 points from the terrific trio of Hailey Van Lith, Sedona Prince, and Madison Conner, the Horned Frogs demonstrated exactly what earned them the top-seed in the conference tournament and a Top 10 national ranking and kept the Mountaineers at bay to secure a 71-65 win.
What the loss means for the Mountaineers
For WVU, the most recent Bracketology release from ESPN -- which came while the WVU/TCU matchup was ongoing -- had the Mountaineers sitting at a sixth-seed playing UNLV, with the potential matchup set in Lexington, Kentucky -- the winner would face whoever comes out on top between a projected Kentucky/Liberty first-round matchup.
Playing a tight game with a projected No. 3 seed in TCU will probably help WVU maintain a spot in that range of the bracket, but the Mountaineers' hopes to secure a four-seed or higher and host during opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament were dashed with the loss. They were going to need to win out and secure a conference title to do so, most likely.
The Mountaineers will have the next week off from action as the committee debates the women's bracket, and they will find out their fate on Selection Sunday which falls on March 16th.