TCU Women's Basketball: Prince Granted Waiver, Joins Talented Backcourt

A social media announcement by TCU women’s basketball center Sedona Prince late last week confirmed that the Horned Frogs will have lots of star power next season.

The NCAA granted Prince a hardship waiver, allowing the Liberty Hill native to participate in a sixth season of collegiate basketball. She missed 11 conference games last season with a finger injury, yet still earned honorable mention All-Big 12 honors, was a Lisa Leslie Award finalist and made the women’s college All-Star game watchlist.

In her first season at TCU, Prince averaged 19.7 points, 9.7 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game.

Returning along with Prince is guard Madison Conner. Conner earned second team All-Big 12 honors last season, despite missing six conference games with an injury, and nailed a TCU single-season record 100 three pointers in 23 games. She made 3.7 three pointers per game, which led the Big 12, and scored 19.2 points, snagged 4.7 rebounds and dished out 3 assists per game.

Conner and Prince became a dangerous pairing on the court. The duo would run the pick and roll often, forcing teams to choose between leaving Conner wide open for a shot or giving Prince an easy basket. Prince altered countless shots on the defensive end as well.

Adding transfer guard Hailey Cavinder to that mix gives TCU’s offense another dangerous scoring option. Cavinder racked up 2,065 career points over four years and sat out the 2023-24 season after helping Miami reach the Elite Eight for the first time in program history. Cavinder played three seasons at Fresno State, where she was a three-time all-conference honoree.

During her lone year in Miami, Cavinder earned second team All-ACC honors, led the Hurricanes in scoring (12.2 points per game), three-point percentage (40.4%) and minutes per game (30.9).

Cavinder will likely engage in the pick and roll game with Prince this coming season, creating more match up issues for opponents. She can also create her own shot and finds teammates at a good rate (2.4 assists per game in 2022-23).

Starting guards Una Jovanovic and Agnes Emma-Nnopu are back, too, along with forward Aaliyah Roberson (who started in Prince’s absence). Repeating last season’s historic 14-0 start is probably an unrealistic expectation, but with the amount of experience TCU already has on the roster, getting off to a solid start in nonconference play and challenging the top teams in the Big 12 seems reasonable.

So long as the injury bug leaves the Horned Frogs alone.

Other Roster Notes

Roster movement has not been all positive for TCU this offseason. So far, five players have entered the transfer portal –freshman guard Victoria Flores, sophomore guard Sydney Harris, junior guard/forward Bre’yon White, junior guard Paige Bradley and freshman forward Jade Clack.

Flores and Harris had the biggest impact on the court last season.

Flores averaged less than 10 minutes per game the nonconference slate, but took on a much larger role following injuries to starting point guard Jaden Owens and then Conner.  While her stats were not outstanding (3.6 points, 1.7 rebounds, 37 turnovers compared with 34 assists), Flores gained valuable experience. Given the addition of Cavinder, Flores departure has more long-term implications as the Horned Frogs lose a former four-star recruit who could have potentially taken over the starting role in future seasons.

Harris, a transfer from Central Michican, missed the first half of the 2023-24 season with an injury and then became a three-point savant during conference play. She hit multiple three pointers in 10 straight games, including four outings of six makes or more. Postseason play was not nearly as friendly to Harris as she made one three in the conference tournament. Harris consistently provided a spark off the bench and was poised for another big year in 2024-25.

White appeared in seven games, totaling 33 minutes this season. During the 2022-23 season, she averaged 2.4 points and 3 rebounds in 31 games.

Bradley missed last season with a foot injury. She played in 46 total games the previous two seasons, including 11 starts. During her sophomore season, Bradley averaged 3.7 points and 1.2 rebounds, featuring a career-bests in a 14 point performance at Oklahoma and a five-rebound game at Kansas.

Clack played in nine games, mainly when TCU’s roster was depleted by injuries. She scored a career-high six points against West Virginia and averaged 7.3 minutes per game.