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The Lady Raiders (7-1, 0-0) take on the Northern Colorado Bears (2-5, 0-0) today at the USA at 2pm. The Lady Raiders are coming off a strong showing against Illinois on Dec 5, 2012. Texas Tech won decisively 75-56
Texas Tech and UNC are meeting for the 2nd time with the last meeting being over 30 years ago. Tech beat the Bears 89-55 in Jan 1980. This will be the 6th road game in a row that the Bears have played. Like the Lady Raiders, they are coming off a 9 day break for exams. The Bears are very strong at the Free-throw Line with many players having 90% to 100% FT%. They are also strong rebounders with 4 of their starters averaging 4.9 to 6.7 rebounds each per game. In the most recent NCAA stats, junior guard D'shara Strange ranks among the top 250 players in the nation in three statistical categories. She is 76th in steals per game (2.86), 165th in scoring (15.0) and 36th in fieldgoal percentage (.369) in games through Dec. 9.
Northern Colorado is looking for its 3rd win of the season and are coming off a loss against Wichita State in Wichita, KS on Dec 7, 2012. The Bears hung tight with the Shockers until the 12 minute mark in the 2nd half when the Shockers pulled away for good. UNC is predicted to finish 2nd in the Big Sky Conference.
The Lady Raiders had a strong showing in their last 6 games since falling to New Mexico on Nov 15th. The Lady Raiders first few games were mainly won on the talents of Monique Smalls, Christine Hyde and Casey Morris. Chynna Brown, Kelsi Baker and Jackie Patterson struggled to get their attempts to drop and were not even factors on the defensive side of the game play. Since the loss to New Mexico, all of the Lady Raiders are back in sync with all of the players working like a well oiled machine. Tech is strong in FG% with a scoring margin of +20, and their FT% have been above the 65% mark.
Three of the Lady Raiders are averaging in the double figures. Casey Morris leads the pack with an average of 12.6 points/game followed by Christine Hyde at 12pts/game and Kelsi Baker at 10.9pts/game. Monique Smalls, Chynna Brown and Jackie Patterson round out the high scorers with an average of 8.5pts, 8.3pts and 8.1pts per game respectively.
The Lady Raiders are playing great Defense. Texas Tech have won the last 6 games by more than 23 points each game. They have a total of 111 Steals this season which is an average of 13.87 Steals per game. The Lady Raiders are out rebounding their opponents by a +6.4% margin and are averaging 13.9 Steals per game with a +9.4% turnover margin.
Tech is outscoring their opponents with a +20 Scoring Margin and has a +4.0 Rebounding Margin. Coach Kristy Curry is in her 7th season and her current record at Texas Tech is 116-88.
The Bear's Head Coach, Jaime White, is in her 7th season with Northern Colorado. Her career record is 84-105 in the seven seasons at UNC. Prior to Northern Colorado, White spent three years as an assistant coach at Wyoming to Head Coach Joe Legerski and was the Recruiting Coordinator.
The Starting Lineups:
Texas Tech
- G Monique Smalls Averages 8.5 Pts and has 21 Steals
- G Casey Morris Averages 12.6 Pts and has a 84.5% FT%
- G Chynna Brown Averages 8.3 Pts and has 17 Steals
- F Christine Hyde Averages 12.0 Pts and 6.4 Rebounds/game
- F Kelsi Baker Averages 10.9 Pts and 5.3 Rebounds/game
Northern Colorado
- G D'shara Strange Averages 15 pts and 6.7 rebounds/game
- G Victoria Timm Averages 6.6 Pts and 5.6 Rebounds/game
- G Kyleigh Hiser Averages 2.7 Pts and has a 100% FT%
- F Lauren Oosdyke Averages 11 Pts and has a 93.7% FT%
- F Kim Lockridge Averages 5.7 Pts and 4.9 Rebounds/game
Notes:
The Big 12 Conference is extremely strong again this season at it will be a battle after the non-conference games end. Here are some of the points of why the Big 12 is a powerhouse in Women's basketball:
The Big 12 is #1 in conference RPI by both Collegiate Basketball News and Sagarin ratings.
The Big 12 leads the nation in non-conference win percentage (.855) and fewest losses (65-11).
The Conference won 21 consecutive games from Nov. 25 - Dec. 6. The Big 12 started the season with a 14-game win streak.
The Big 12 is one of two leagues (Big Ten) in which every team has a winning record.
The Big 12 is the only conference where every team has three-or-fewer losses.
Conference teams are 43-2 in home games and 211-10 on their home courts since the beginning of the 2010-11 season. The Big 12 led the nation in home non-conference win percentage the past two years.
The Big 12's .956 (43-2) win percentage in home games is the best among all leagues.
Seventy percent of Big 12 squads are either ranked or receiving votes in the AP Poll: 3. Baylor, 12. Oklahoma, 16. Oklahoma State, 18. Texas, 22. Kansas and 25. West Virginia. Iowa State received votes.
The Big 12 is the only conference with six ranked teams and the only with 60% of its membership ranked. Other leagues' ratings are: ACC (4-12/33%), Big Ten (3-12/25%), Big East (3-15/20%), Pac-12 (3-12/25%) and SEC (5-14/36%).
Oklahoma State (13) has the nation's longest current win streak. K-State and Oklahoma (7) are tied for ninth while Texas Tech (6) is tied for 16th. Baylor (43) is second in current home court win streak.
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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 1:45pm (I might not be able to monitor the game but hope I can juggle my schedule to watch the game live)