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Lubbock, Texas – After a strong defensive effort, forcing 19 turnovers and allowing just 38 total points, the Texas Tech Lady Raiders fell to UC Riverside 59-38 on Tuesday afternoon at United Supermarkets Arena.
In the last game before Christmas, the Lady Raiders (11-1) were locked in on defense, allowing 10 points or less in three of four quarters.
The 38 points allowed today were the fewest allowed by a Lady Raider team since the 2019-20 season as Tech held ULM to 38 points in an 83-38 win over the Warhawks. Interestingly, that game was also played on December 22.
Tech directed in the afternoon. Bailey Maupin 11 points, while James Lewis He added 10 points on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting. Lewis made both free throw attempts.
UC Riverside (2-8) was led by Anna Blount who scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds. Blount was the only Highlander to reach double figures as UC Riverside shot 15 of 50 from the floor.
How it happened:
After UC Riverside scored five of the game’s first seven points, the Lady Raiders responded with a 13-1 run that spanned the final 8:04 of the period.
The wave was triggered by a high five quick points Katie Ferrell. The last three of those points came in Ferrell’s first career triple as a Lady Raider.
Tech’s strong close to the opening quarter gave them a 15-6 lead after 10 minutes of action.
In the second quarter, the Lady Raiders used a quick basket from Lewis to go up 17-6 with 9:53 to play in the period.
UC Riverside responded with the next 15 and 13 to pull within 24-19 with 2:05 left in the opening half.
As the visitors started to convert, Tech turned to Lewis, who scored the final four points of the quarter. The rebound allowed the Lady Raiders to enjoy a 28-19 lead.
Behind the high guard bucket Amber ScottTech scored four of the first six points of the quarter to take a 32-20 lead with 7:42 left in the third.
UC Riverside answered with the next four points of the game, holding the Lady Raiders scoreless to one. Ella is sixteen bucket with 4:07 to play in the third.
The two teams traded baskets in the period as Tech led 37-29 heading into the fourth.
Looking to put the game away, the Lady Raiders scored their first 6 of the fourth and 11 of their first 13 to go up 48-31 with 5:56 to play in the quarter. The 11-2 run was capped by five quick points from Maupin.
UC Riverside answered with a 7-2 run to get within 50-38 with 3:42 to play, but the Lady Raiders went on an 8-0 run to close out the 59-38 victory.
With the win, Tech moves to 11-1 on the year, the best overall record in the Big 12.
With a win over Mississippi Valley State next week, the Lady Raiders have a chance to close out 12-1 in non-conference play, the most wins and overall record in the league entering conference play. Kansas State currently sits at 11-2 overall but will be idle until Big 12 play begins on Dec. 31.
Coach Speaks (HC KRISTA GERLICH)
“We call these games pre-Christmas break trap games for a reason. We’ve talked about it the last three or four days just to make sure we’re focused, prepared and energized and not distracted about going home for Christmas break. The coach’s nightmare is trying to get your team ready for this game. Certainly nothing from UC Riverside.” I don’t want to take anything away. Their coach, Nicole Powell, is a great coach. She makes them play very, very hard and she has a great pedigree. She’s going to do great things out there. And I’ll tell you, they hung in there with us, and they made it ugly, turned the ball over, to get in shots. We struggled. We saw some good things. I thought we did our press well at times. Late in the game, especially at the end of the fourth quarter, I thought we saw some offensive execution. Back quality possessions together, but transitions, and we were completely We had a lot of, lack of focus. There’s no question that it’s a lack of focus. Even at the free throw line. We didn’t get there a lot, which is a problem, but shooting 50 percent even though we shot 6 is a lack of focus. There’s a lot going on in this game, a lot here. There’s family, there’s a lot of distractions and those are all excuses, but I’m glad these girls came out on top. They found a way to win and we extended the lead a little bit. Now to Mississippi Valley. They can go celebrate with their families for three days before we go back to prepare for the state.
Here’s what you want to see in the Lady Raiders’ conference finals on Tuesday:
“We’ve got to keep playing consistently. We’re struggling with that right now. We don’t have the bad spots we had last year for the most part. But we’re not waiting until we’re extending early leads. I’d love to get into the playoffs on Tuesday and get my conditioning back with a few days off. Great effort to see.” I want and then I want to see better focus. I thought today to put defense first. We defended fairly well. They only scored 38 points, which is pretty good. That was our lowest score this season. But at the same time, I just felt like we missed some open shots and that was some Time wasn’t a factor in our defense, so we have to keep working on that and that will be the goal on Tuesday.
The point in the box is:
• The Lady Raiders forced 19 turnovers and held UCR to just 15 total field goals, the fewest in a game since ULM scored just 13 on Dec. 22, 2019.
• The Lady Raiders’ win today equaled their win total from a season ago.
• The Lady Raiders entered the lane just 6 times on Thursday, ranking 10th in the nation in yards per game (17.6) and 22nd in attempts per game (22.2).
• Tech turned the ball over 20 times in a game for the second time all season.
• The Lady Raiders held an opponent under 50 points for the fifth time this season. Tech is a perfect 5-0 in those games.
• Scott had a season-low four points today, snapping a three-game streak of scoring at least 15 points.
• It was Maupin’s ninth double-digit game of the season.
• With the win, Tech extended its winning streak to 10 for the first time since the 2019-20 season. That year, Tech started the season 11-0.
• Since the 2011-2012 season, Tech has gone 12-0 in conference play, with 11 non-conference wins by a Lady Raider team.
• With her 10-point performance, Lewis had her sixth game of at least 10 points this season. The postseason had just five games with 10 points or more before this season.
Next:
The Lady Raiders return from Christmas break on Tuesday, December 27th when they welcome Mississippi Valley State to Lubbock. Tip-off from the United Supermarkets Arena is set for 2pm.
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