Ex-Centennial star enters Elite Eight with hot hand for TCU

Taylor Bigby, a redshirt senior playing in her final games for the TCU women’s basketball team, doesn’t want it to end.

Bigby, a former Centennial High star, will play Monday in the Elite Eight against top-seeded South Carolina. No. 3-seeded TCU is a win away from the Final Four in an NCAA Tournament when Bigby has been playing her best basketball.

And when the Horned Frogs had scored only 19 points in the first half at home against Washington in the second round, it was the 6-foot-1 guard who resolved to play better defense — and spoke her mind.

“I think before Coach even came in, I was telling ’em, ‘They’re not going to give it to us, we knew it wasn’t going to be easy coming in here,’” Bigby told reporters. “This is what March is about. It’s just like one extra thing that I felt like we needed to do.”

TCU (32-5) came back to win in overtime, and the Horned Frogs are still dancing with star guard Olivia Miles leading the way. Bigby, who won three state championships at Centennial, has had big-time performances as well.

In a first-round win against UC San Diego, she hit seven 3-pointers and scored a career-high 27 points to break Hailey Van Lith’s program record for single-game scoring in the NCAA Tournament.

“Seeing Taylor in the gym every day working on those very shots, to see it come out when it actually matters — every moment matters, but now it’s the real deal — you can’t help but be happy for that person,” Miles said. “It’s contagious when she’s hitting 3s and then she gets to attack a closeout and hit someone else, and they hit a 3. So it just spills over. We’re all happy to see each other thrive and succeed.”

Bigby, who has averaged 8.2 points this season and leads the team shooting 39.1 percent from 3-point range, said coach Mark Campbell talks to her about hunting shots all the time.

It hasn’t always been easy. In her second season at TCU since transferring from USC, Bigby has come off the bench at times and re-entered the starting lineup last month.

“Tay’s one of the ultimate teammates, everybody loves her,” Campbell said.

“It’s been two years now she’s in the gym working on her craft. So it’s just neat when young people get rewarded for their hard work. It doesn’t always happen. But her teammates have seen her grind.”

Against Washington, Bigby scored 15 points, as she notched her two highest-scoring games of the season in the NCAA Tournament. The Las Vegan and daughter of former UNLV guard Lamar Bigby excelled on the defensive end as well.

“I think it’s heart and having a competitive spirit,” Taylor Bigby said. “They got me a couple times in the first half, and I think I just took it really personal going into the second half. I knew that’s what my team needed in order for to us win, for us to get stops.”

Of the two standout performances, she said, “It’s really special, it’s a blessing. … But my teammates, my coaches, I wouldn’t be here without them and the confidence that they instill in me.”