Associated Press
TULSA, Okla. — Tricia Payne scored 26 points and Texas Christian held off a late rally to beat Hawai'i 66-58 today and win the championship of the Western Athletic Conference tournament.
The Lady Frogs (24-7) earned their first trip to the NCAA tournament. Hawai'i (23-7) will learn tomorrow if they will receive an at-large berth to go the tournament for the sixth time.
TCU — the top seed in the tournament — took advantage of poor shooting by Hawai'i to build a 16-point halftime lead. Hawai'i was just 5-of-33 from the field in the first half.
The lead grew to 19 when Payne, the tournament’s MVP, sank a 3-pointer with 14:24 remaining. But No. 2 seed Hawai'i, behind Kylie Galloway and Dainora Puida, drew to 48-38 with just more than 10 minutes remaining.
TCU put together a 9-0 run to build the lead back to 19 before the Rainbow Wahine scored 13 straight to make it 57-51 with 3:05 remaining. Hawai'i cut the lead to five on Galloway’s 3-pointer with 45 seconds left, but got no closer.
Galloway scored 21 and Puida had 12 points and 12 rebounds. Janice Thomas had 11 rebounds and Amy Porter grabbed 10 for TCU.
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