The #16/#22 Lady Red Raiders play the UT-Arlington Lady Mavericks in Lubbock on Wednesday evening, Dec.7, 2011 at 7pm CST at the USA. This will be the 12TH meeting between these two teams. Texas Tech is 11-1 against Texas-Arlington, dating back to Tech's first season in 1975. UTA beat Tech, 82-65 in Arlington but has lost the last 11 contests, including three in the last six seasons under current head coach Kristy Curry.
Tech has 7 wins so far this season. Tech is coming off a massive win against a ranked opponent ---- the #16 Penn State Nittany Lions. UTA has 1 win and 4 losses this season. UTA is coming off a loss against the Memphis Tigers on Sunday, Dec. 4, 2011.
What's at Stake: If Tech pulls out a win it will keep them undefeated and give them a 8-0 record The Lady Mavericks are a very young team and are looking for their 2nd win of the season.
Current record: Tech's current season record is 7-0, 0-0 Big 12. UTA's current season record is 1-,0-0 Southland.
Rankings: The Red Raiders are 16 in this week's Associated Press poll and 222nd in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll. In both Polls, Tech moved up three spots.
Players to watch:
Tech: Junior Forward Kierra Mallard is averaging a double-double with 14.2 points and 10.7 rebounds/game and has 14 blocks. Sophomore Guard Casey Morris averaged 8.3 points per game and 4.5 rebounds/game; Junior Christine Hyde is averaging 9.3 points and 4 rebounds/game; Sophomore Guard Monique Smalls is averaging 7.2 points and 3.3 rebounds and 4 blocks/game and has 25 steals; Sophomore Kelsi Baker averages 10 points and 5.3 rebounds/game.
UT-Arlington: Freshman Guard Chauntandra Williams leads UTA in scoring with 8.4 points per game, scoring 11 and 14 in two of the Mavericks' last three games. Senior Forward Bianca Sauls leads the team in rebounding with 5.6 per game.
Previously Play: The Lady Red Raiders had a hard fought win over the 16th ranked Penn State Lady Lions on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. Tech had 3 players in double digits. The UTA Lady Mavericks are coming off a tough loss to the Memphis Tigers in an away game in Memphis, TN.
Coaches: Kristy Curry is coaching her 6th season at Tech. (96-73). Samantha Morrow is entering her 5th season with the UT-Arlington Lady Mavericks (65-61).
Last year: The Lady Red Raiders finished the 2010-11 season 22-11, 8-8 with a tie for 6th place in the Big12. Tech returns 11 players (3 Starters) from last year's team and welcomed 2 newcomers The Lady Mavericks finished the 2010-11 season 8-20, 5-11 and finished in 8th place in the Southland Conference. The UTA Lady Mavericks returned 1 Starter, 7 Letterwinners and 7 Newcomers.
Gametracker: www.texastech.com
Streaming video: www.texastech.com/allaccess (~ $10/month)
Radio: Texas Tech Sports Network 97.3 FM (Lubbock) and KVCE 1160 AM in the DFW Metroplex
Game Thread: consider this write up the Game Thread
Other Notes:
Senior forward Kierra Mallard was named Phillips 66 Big 12 Player of the Week on Monday - her first honor this season. Mallard led the team with 18 points and 15 rebounds vs. No. 16/15 Penn State and averaged 18 points and 12 rebounds in two games last week.
Texas Tech rides a 38-game home winning streak against non-conference opponents into Saturday's game against the Lady Lions. Tech has not lost a nonconference game at home since Dec. 4, 2007. The Lady Raiders are currently on a nine-gmae home winning streak overall, dating back to Feb. 16. Texas Tech has a seven-game active win streak which is tied for fifth nationally as the longest active win streak. The Lady Raiders have not lost at home since Feb. 5, giving them a 10-game winning streak at United Spirit Arena.
The Texas Tech - Penn State game on Saturday was the 11th-highest attended game this season for all NCAA Division I women's basketball games. There were 8.932 fans that packed United Spirit Arena to watch Tech beat Penn State, 70-66.
Texas Tech is only one of three undefeated teams in the Big 12 (Baylor, Oklahoma State) and only one of 15 nationally.
Texas Tech is second in the Big 12 Conference in scoring (82.3 ppg) and 11th nationally. The Lady Raiders have scored 70 points or more in all but one game this season and 80 points or more in five of them
The Lady Raiders are second in the Big 12 in scoring margin (29.3) and seventh nationally, winning six of seven games by 26 points or more. The largest margin of victory was 45 points against Texas State on Nov. 30 while the smallest was four against Penn State on Dec. 3.
Texas Tech won its 800th game in program history on Nov. 26, against Central Arkansas becoming just the 15th Division I program to reach the milestone, joining Conference members Texas and Kansas State.
| PROBABLE STARTERS | |||||
| TEXAS TECH LADY RAIDERS (6-0) | |||||
| NO. | NAME | HT | P | YR | STATS |
| 23 | Monique Smalls | 5-6 | G | JR | 7.2 pts/game |
| 15 | Casey Morris | 5-9 | G | JR | 8.3 pts/game |
| 5 | Christine Hyde | 5-10 | G | JR | 9.3 pts/game |
| 20 | Kierra Mallard | 6-3 | F | SR | 14.2 pts/game |
| 41 | Kelsi Baker | 6-1 | F | SO | 10 pts/game |
| UT-ARLINGTON-MAVERICKS (1-4) | |||||
| NO. | NAME | HT | P | YR | STATS |
| 11 | Sabreena DeNure | 5-5 | G | JR | 5.6 pts/game |
| 12 | Chauntandra Williams | 5-8 | G | FR | 8.4 pts/game |
| 15 | Kiara Parker | 5-8 | G | JR | 4.0 pts/game |
| 33 | Bianca Sauls | 5-11 | F | SR | 6.8 pts/game |
| 44 | Desherra Nwanguma | 6-1' | F | SO | 6.4 pts/game |
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| The Four Factors to Winning | UTA | Texas Tech |
| Shooting eFG% | 0.35 | 0.37 |
| Ball Handling TO% | 0.22 | 0.51 |
| Off rebounding OR% | 0.33 | 0.51 |
| Shooting FTs FT Rate | 0.67 | 0.70 |