Washington's Fairy Tale Ends in Heartbreak: How the Huskies Lost to TCU in Overtime Thriller
For 40 minutes, the Washington women's basketball team looked unstoppable. Then TCU happened. The Huskies fell 62-59 in overtime to the No. 3 seed Horned Frogs on Sunday in Fort Worth, and it was the kind of loss that stings because they had it. They absolutely had it.
This wasn't some blowout where you can point to one quarter and say "that's where we lost it." Washington led for 24 minutes and 14 seconds total. They threatened early with a 14-13 second quarter lead against TCU, then built it up to 10 points at 27-17 just before halftime on a Yulia Grabovskaia layup. This was a Cinderella run in the making, especially with projected top-five WNBA Draft pick Olivia Miles on the other side.
When the Lead Slipped Away
The Huskies held that advantage even through foul trouble that plagued Grabovskaia, leading scorer Sayvia Sellers, and freshman phenom Brynn McGaughy. Everything fell apart in the final 4 minutes of regulation. Elle Ladine hit a putback jumper, her only bucket of the game, to put Washington back up, but Taylor Bigby drew a foul on McGaughy and buried both free throws to tie it. McGaughy missed both of her free throws on the next possession, and then Clara Silva's layup gave TCU their first lead since the second quarter with 1:39 left on the clock.
The drama kept building. Sellers bricked a three. Marta Suarez missed a potential dagger. Silva blocked Sellers' layup with 20 seconds to go. McGaughy answered with a layup over three TCU defenders that rolled around the rim with 14 seconds remaining, and when Miles missed a step-back three, you thought the storybook ending was written. But overtime said otherwise.
The Collapse Nobody Saw Coming
TCU ripped off a 7-0 run to start overtime and Washington never recovered. Sellers' and-one cut it to 4. Avery Howell's three made it a one-point game. TCU answered with two more layups. Sellers' floater in the key kept it close, and Washington forced a miss from Miles. With 6 seconds left, McGaughy got the inbound pass and Sellers had an open look off a dribble handoff. The three fell right of the basket. The rebound caromed away from every Washington player as the buzzer sounded. TCU 62, Washington 59.
Sellers and Miles put on a show with 18 points each, fitting for a potential future Seattle WNBA connection. Miles also had 10 rebounds and 8 assists. Sellers grabbed 6 boards and dished out a team-high 5 assists. Silva had 16 and 8 rebounds for TCU. Bigby added 15. McGaughy battled through 4 fouls to score 13. Howell had 14. Hannah Stines added 10 in what was her final game in a Huskies uniform.
The future is bright with Sellers, Howell, McGaughy, and Devin Coppinger returning next season, plus incoming talent like four-star forward Nina Cain, Australian U19 point guard Sienna Harvey, and recruit Amayah "Sunshine" Garcia on the roster. This is the brightest outlook Washington has had since 2017. But Sunday night, they left Fort Worth with nothing but what-ifs.
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This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.