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The Lady Raiders (5-1, 0-0) take on the Lamar Lady Cardinals (5-1, 0-0) today at the USA at 1pm. The Lady Raiders are coming off a strong showing last weekend in the Basketball Travelers Invitational tournament. Texas Tech won all three games against Southern Utah, Nicholls and New Orleans.
Texas Tech and Lamar are meeting for the 9th time. The Lady Raiders have won all previous 8 meetings that date back to 1979. The last time these two teams met was in December 2009 and Tech won the game 70-56.
The Cardinals are very strong in Steals. They are 6th in Div 1 teams with an average of 15.6 Steals per game. Lamar is looking for its 6th win of the season and are coming off a home win over Lady of the Lake on Monday, Nov 26, 2012. The Lady Cardinals had 5 players score in double-digits. Lamar's strongest player is Kalis Loyd, who was chosen as the Southland Conference Player of the Week by earning a double-double in play. Loyd had 15 points and 11 rebounds and it was her third double-double this season and the 21st in her career.
It is a good thing this game is not on the Lady Cardinals home court as they have won 36 straight non-conference games at the Montagne Center in Beaumont, TX.
The Lady Raiders had a strong showing in the Basketball Travelers Invitational tournament after a lackadaisical showing against New Mexico. In the New Mexico game there was a lack of energy and focus from most of the Texas Tech players. The game was kept close by the efforts of Monique "Mo" Smalls and Amber Battle.
The Lady Raiders stepped up their play in all three games. Casey Morris earned MVP honors and was joined by Christine Hyde and Kelsi Baker on the BTI All-Tournament Team. Morris had an exceptional 3 games. She scored in double-digits in all three games (18pts, 19pts, and 16pts) as well as a total of 13 Steals. Hyde was in double figures for two of the games and Baker also scored in double figures in all three games. The tournament also showcased the talents of sophomore Guard Amber Battle. She had a career-high of 10 rebounds in the game against Southern Utah and scored 10 points against Nicholls.
The Lady Raiders are playing great Defense. They have a total of 85 Steals this season which is an average of 14 Steals per game. Tech is outscoring their opponents with a +20 Scoring Margin and has a +4.0 Rebounding Margin. The Lady Raiders still need to make improvements at the FT line. They only have a 64% FT%. This was one of their main sore points last season and it needs to be worked on and improved if they are going to compete in Conference play and in Post Season play.
The Cardinal's Head Coach, Larry Tidwell, is in his 6th season with Lamar. He has been coaching for 37 years in both the high school and college level. His career record is 106-55 in five seasons at Lamar. Prior to being the HC at Lamar he was an Associate Coach and Recruiting Coordinator at TCU for eight seasons.
The Lady Cardinals average 61 points per game and as noted earlier, are very strong in Steals and average 14 Rebounds per game. They are fairly weak at the FT line with only a 53.9% rate and have not exhibited 3-Pt strength with only a 26.5% rate. The Lady Cardinals are strong in that they work as a very tight cohesive team and battle for points.
The Starting Lineups:
Texas Tech
- G Monique Smalls Averages 9.3 Pts and has 15 Steals
- G Casey Morris Averages 12.8 Pts and has a 87.5% FT%
- G Chynna Brown Averages 6.3 Pts and has 13 Steals
- F Christine Hyde Averages 9.8 Pts and 6.7 Rebounds/game
- F Kelsi Baker Averages 10 Prs and 4.7 Rebounds/game
Lamar
- G Gia Ayers Averages 6.2 pts and 3.6 rebounds/game
- G Kalis Loyd Averages 18.3 Pts and 9.3 Rebounds/game
- G Carenn Baylor Averages 8 Pts and is a strong 3-pt shooter
- F Alice Robinson Averages 3.5 Pts and 5.4 Rebounds/game
- F Dominique Edwards Averages 7.3 Pts and 3.8 Rebounds/game
Notes:
To view the game go to TexastechTV (http://www.texastech.com/allaccess/)
The game can be heard on the radio 93.7 FM (Lubbock and on the Texas Tech Sports Network(www.TexasTech.com)
Live stats will be available on Gametracker at www.texastech.com/gametracker.
The GameThread will go up at 12:45pm (I might not be able to monitor the game but hope I can juggle my schedule to watch the game live)