No. 17 TCU faced a six-point halftime deficit Sunday night against 19th-ranked West Virginia.
The Horned Frogs could hardly have responded to it any better.
TCU outscored the Mountaineers 20-2 over the first 5:12 of the second half and maintained enough separation from that point forward to lead by multiple possessions in a 59-50 victory.
The Horned Frogs (23-4, 11-3) were held to 10-for-28 shooting in the first half, but got the game going in their favor early in the third and pulled even at 28 on three-pointers from Marta Suarez and Donovyn Hunter.
Suarez followed with a bucket in the paint, and though Carter McCray countered with a close range basket for WVU, the home team gained the lead for good on Olivia Miles’ driving layup 3:02 into the second half.
It marked the start of a dozen straight points for TCU, which got a layup from Taylor Bigby before another triple from Hunter as well as one for Bigby for its first double-digit advantage.
Miles scored again to make it 42-30 with 4:48 left in the third, though WVU (21-6, 11-4) ran off seven unanswered points and was to within five at the 3:18 mark after a trey from Sydney Shaw.
The Horned Frogs settled for a 46-39 lead through three, and the visitors closed the deficit to six on three occasions in the fourth, but could get no closer.
Shaw’s three with 5:59 to play cut the WVU deficit to 53-47 and marked the Mountaineers’ last field goal.
West Virginia shot 7 for 24 in the second half, and now trails both TCU and Baylor in the Big 12 Conference regular season race, with the latter two teams tied atop the league.
TCU led 11-6 at one point, before WVU ran off 16 unanswered points over the late stages of the first quarter and opening 2 minutes of the second.
Gia Cooke and Shaw began the dominant stretch with a three each, and after Celia Riviere scored twice, fellow reserve Riley Makalusky made two treys on successive possessions.
At that point, 12 minutes into the matchup, WVU had nine field goals. It made nine more over the remaining 28 minutes.
Cooke led all players with 18 points and Shaw scored 12.
Suarez and Clara Silva paced TCU with 14 points each, while Miles scored 12 to go with seven rebounds and seven assists. Bigby added 10.
The Horned Frogs shot 15 for 22 over the final two quarters to finish 50 percent (25 for 50) in the game.
Guard Jordan Harrison was 0 for 5 and held scoreless for the first time in three seasons with the Mountaineers.
WVU managed nine points off 10 TCU turnovers.
The victory gives the Horned Frogs 40 consecutive wins at home — the nation’s longest active streak.