FORT WORTH – Alas, there is no Madison Square Garden for the four remaining teams of the Women’s NIT.
No Big Apple. In TCU’s case, just a big cactus.
While Jamie Dixon’s team departed Sunday for New York City and its semifinal performance on the men’s grand NIT stage, Raegan Pebley’s TCU women were at Schollmaier Arena, earning their place in the Women’s NIT semis with a 69-55 victory over Cincinnati.
Start spreading the news. Pebley’s Horned Frogs are leaving for Tucson.
Such is life in the female rendition of the NIT. The NCAA runs the men’s version of the 81-year-old tournament, with its smoky, men-in-dark-suits annals.
The women’s tourney, on the other hand, is owned and operated by a private company in Fort Collins, Colo. – Triple Crown Sports – and, thus, would like to pay the light bill.
All 63 games of the tournament are held at campus sites. Yes, roll call is taken.
From the WNIT’s own website:
The host site for each game is selected by the WNIT committee based on several factors such as fan base, host bids, facility availability, tournament seed, travel constraints, etc.
Etc.?
I’m guessing that it all means that despite drawing 2,436 to its quarterfinal victory Sunday, TCU finds itself packing for a road game against an Arizona team that drew 7,717 spectators for its 22-point win over Wyoming.
That’s not a daunting challenge, Pebley asserted. Her TCU teams have seen the insides of distant airports before.
“They’ve been there,” she said, “and there’s no better leader than experience. They’ve been in this position before — exactly this position, except it was on the road.”
Last year’s TCU team won its first two NIT games at home, but then had to travel to, in one week’s time, Albuquerque, N.M., Vermillion, S.D., and Bloomington, Ind. – 4,000 miles, counting the back-and-forths.
After losing at Indiana in the semis 12 months ago, Pebley admitted that maybe her troops were a wee bit road-weary.
But they know the instructions on the NIT label. They’ve already survived one difficult road test this year, beating Arkansas in the third round.
The Frogs found themselves challenged again Sunday, when Cincinnati came out after halftime and grabbed a four-point advantage with 4:39 left in the third quarter.
“One of the strong messages we had about Cincinnati is that they were going to try to be the aggressor,” Pebley said. “They were going to try and throw the first punch and try to get you on your heels.
“We had to work really hard to continue to own the steering wheel. We lost that, I think, in the beginning of the second half, and that was a message. We kept saying, ‘Gain control of the game.’
“Sometimes that means by speeding things up, but tonight what it meant was we needed to slow things down.”
Following that 4:39 mark in the third quarter, the Frogs clamped down on the Bearcats offense and went on a 23-2 run over the next 12 minutes.
Amy Okonkwo finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds, and Jordan Moore scored 16 with 11 rebounds, as TCU dominated the inside when it mattered most.
“We just got more effective,” Pebley said, “and having seniors with a lot of experience, Kianna [Ray] and Jayde [Woods] and Ola [Akomolafe] with all their experience on the floor, they know how to play the game at different tempos.”
When it was over, Pebley took the arena microphone and thanked those in attendance for their support.
“Next time we play here,” she urged, “bring four or five friends.”
But first comes another road trip. Considering Triple Crown Sports’ criteria of fan base, host bids, etc., — especially the etceteras – Pebley had a feeling the Frogs would be sent to Tucson or Laramie.
“Probably,” she said, when asked to venture a guess.
“What’s happening down at Arizona is a program that’s got tremendous history and is really finding a resurgence . . . They’re creating a great home atmosphere right now.
“I heard the coach auctioned off her husband for a date if somebody bought a thousand tickets. I’m not doing that with my husband.”
Funny but true. Arizona coach Adia Barnes’ husband is Salvo Coppa, a coach himself whom Barnes met in Coppa’s native Italy.
With the quarterfinal game against Wyoming ahead, Barnes took to Twitter and playfully wrote:
“Date night with Salvo if you buy 1,000 tickets in the next 10 minutes and I will be the chaperone!”
Female ears perked, judging from Twitter, but Barnes didn’t have to go through with the deal. Fans started lining up at the McKale Center two hours before tip-off Sunday and surpassed her announced goal of 7,000 fans. She announced afterwards that she wants 10,000 to show up for the TCU game.
“This team loves playing on the road,” Pebley said of her own road warriors. “We love home, especially when the crowd’s like this, but they also have loved playing in some of those atmospheres.”
In a better-funded, more gender-balanced world, maybe the Frogs and Wildcats would be joining the men at Madison Square Garden this week.
But one more time, the TCU women will be in a strange gym, dealing with the etceteras Wednesday night.
That’s not a deal-breaker, Reagan Pebley reminded Sunday.
“It’s like the motto here at TCU,” she said. “We’ll fight ‘em on the ice, wherever we’ve got to go and whoever it’s got to be.”
A perfect attitude for the Women’s NIT, if you ask me.
