ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñAV

In the end, they just didn't have enough gas left in the tank as TCU pulled away for a 85-73 victory on Sunday afternoon at McKale Center in front of 7,672 fans. 

Arizona now is on a two-game losing skid and drops to 15-12, 6-8, while TCU improves to 24-3, 12-2. 

"The first thing I'd like to say is I thought our team fought really hard," Arizona coach Adia Barnes said. "I thought we played probably almost 30 minutes of pretty good basketball, but we played a better team than us tonight or today. TCU, they're really good. In my opinion, they ... would be a Sweet 16 team and they should go further. I mean, they have a ton of experience."

In the first reveal by the NCAA Women's Basketball Committee that was held earlier in the day, TCU was selected in the Top 16 at No. 9, meaning if the tournament were to be held this week, the Horned Frogs would be hosting the first two rounds. 

Without Jada Williams, who is managing foot pain and Mailien Rolf, who has a concussion, Arizona wasn't expected to do much against the top-ranked Horned Frogs.

However, collectively the Wildcats came together to play tight defense and score a lot of baskets to give TCU a run for their money for much of the game.  

Skylar Jones was aggressive from the start scoring 16 points in the first half alone, finishing with a career high 30 points — making 9 of 11 from the field and all four 3s. 

Jones said the mentality her teammates came in with was "to prove the country wrong with whoever we had."

"We wanted to do it for them (Williams and Rolf) and we wanted to shock the country, to prove that we can hang with the top teams in the country even and we're a young team," Jones said. "That's not an excuse. And I think that we showed that we can hang with an experienced team, as well."

Before the game, Jones said she saw a post on social media that said the youngest team (Arizona) was playing the oldest team (TCU). TCU has a handful of older players including fifth years: Hailey Van Lith, Sedona Prince (who also redshirted a year), Agnes Emma-Nnopu and Deasia Merrill. They also played a redshirt junior in Taylor Bigby and a senior in former Wildcat Madi Conner (who actually is playing four-and-a-half years).   

Two other Wildcats who stood out in the stat sheet were Paulina Paris and Lauryn Swann. 

Paris also finished in double figures with 14 points and dished six assists — all being sick.

"I was very worried coming into the game, because she hasn't been able to hold down (food) for three half days," Barnes said. "We gave her the IV. But then psychologically, that's hard. She couldn't hold down rice or Gatorade or anything. So I was nervous, to be honest, because going into this game, I know she needed to play 35-40 minutes. We didn't have another point guard, so putting Lauryn (Swann) and Montaya (Dew), I knew that was going to be a struggle. ... I thought she did a phenomenal job. She gave everything she could. She was working her butt off."

Barnes said she even joked with Paris that this could be her Michael Jordan flu game, where he scored 38 points.  

Swann found her shooting touch as she went 4 for 5 from long range, finishing with 12 points. 

In the third quarter, the Wildcats tied it up at 52-52 on a 3 from Paris and a basket from Breya Cunningham in a 30-second span. However, the Horned Frogs pulled away and after Swann made a 3 at the 3:38 mark.

The Wildcats didn't scored the rest of the quarter and TCU held a 65-57 lead going into the final frame. At that point, the Wildcats were tired. 

Arizona came out with the swarming defense forcing a few over-and-backs. TCU wasn't able to get into too much of a rhythm — even calling an early timeout, which ended up as a media timeout. At the end of the first quarter, TCU had a slim one-point lead, 18-17.

In the second quarter, the Horned Frogs started to distance themselves going on an 8-0 run in a little more than two minutes. But then the Wildcats answered back and got as close as two points, 32-30. Skylar Jones led the spurt with a put back and an and one, followed by a steal under the basket by Isis Beh. Jones scored on layup and Swann knocked down a 3. 

The Horned Frogs reeled off six points — four free throws and a basket to extend the lead to eight, 38-30. Paris and Swann hit 3s and Conner hit a 3 at the buzzer as TCU took a 45-38 lead into halftime. 

Conner scored 18 points and made 4 3s. 

The Wildcats ended up shooting 48% from the field, 67% (12 of 18) from long range. 

TCU shot 56% and 42% (11 of 26) from long range.