Lady Raiders take on the GSU Tigers

Game: Lady Raiders vs. Grambling State

Date: Saturday, November 23, 2013

Time: 2:00pm CST

Location: "The USA" Lubbock, TX

Radio: Texas Tech Sports Network (97.3 FM Lubbock)

Gametracker: www.texastech.com/gametracker

Streaming video: www.texastech.com/allaccess

Listen: www.texastech.com/allaccess

TV: None

Go Lady Raiders!!!

RAIDER !!!! POWER!!!!

The Lady Raiders (3-1, 0-0) take on the Grambling State Lady Tigers (2-3, 0-0) on Saturday at the USA at 2pm.

The Lady Raiders are coming off a tough loss to Arizona State last Sunday. The Sun Devils had almost a perfect game. One of their senior guards, Adrianne Thomas, scored 14 of 14. The battle on the floor was intense with 18 ties and 18 lead changes as neither team led by more than six points until the final minute of the game.  Arizona State took control of the game at the 1 minute mark by scoring a 3-ptr and then a 3 point play that gave ASU a 79-73 lead.  Texas Tech had great numbers with Minta Spears (25 points), Mariana Lizarazu (18 points) and Amber Battle (15 points) but it just came up short and the Lady Raiders fell 85-77.

Texas Tech and GSU are meeting for the 4th time with the last meeting in 1998. The Lady Raiders lead the series 2-1. This will be the 5th road game that the Tigers have played.  The Tigers are very strong athletic team and play a very defensive style of play.

The Grambling State Lady Tigers are strong rebounders with four of their starters averaging more than 4 rebounds per game. They are strong on the free-throw line and love to make Steals. The main players to watch and defend are Joanna Miller and Victoya Ricks. Miller a Senior Guard averages 19.2 PPG and 7.6 RPG and she has a 77% FT accuracy and so far has 13 Steals this season. Ricks is a Senior Forward, who averages 11.8 PPG and 4.6 RPG. Dennisha Chambers is a "Steal" maker and she scores an average of 9 points-per-game and pulls down 5 rebounds in each game. This will be the third Big12 opponent GSU has played in the last few weeks.  They opened up play against Baylor in a one-sided game that ended in a loss 55-110. Last week they played TCU with the Horned Frogs getting the win 64-95.

The Lady Raiders had a strong showing in their first 3 games of the season.  They beat Texas-Pan American 70-48, then beat the New Mexico Lobos 65-56 and then cam up short and fell to Arizona State.  What has emerged out of these few games is the strong player that Amber Battle has developed into.  Battle, a Junior Guard, has become the leader of this team. She leads the Big12 in rebounding with 11 rebounds per game and averages over 17 PPG. Senior Center Shauntal Nobles has been strong under the basket with an average of 8 PPG and 6.7 RPG.  The newbie's to the USA Court are Minta Spears, who had to sit out last season due to injury, who has come on strong with 16 PPG. Marina Lizarazu comes in as a true Freshman Guard and has also been hot in her scoring with a 9.3 PPG.  Other players to watch are Junior transfer, Audrisa Harrison, who is 100% from the FT line and has 5 RRG and Freshman Guard Diamond Lockhart, who is also perfect at the free-throw line and has 5 Assists this season. This is a feisty team that will fight for every point and I am looking forward to watching them play this season.

Texas Tech's new Head Coach, Candi Whitaker, has five years of experience at the helm of the University of Missouri-Kansas City WBB program with an overall record of 79-94. While there, she improved the team's record each year and finished with a 22-12 record her final year. Last season, she was the Associated Head Coach with Oklahoma State. So far this season Whitaker's record is 2-1.

The Tiger's Head Coach, Patricia Case Bibbs, is in her 2nd season with Grambling State and she is an alum of GSU. Her career record is 511-319 in the twenty-nine seasons and her record at GSU is 10-25.  Prior to Grambling State, Bibbs was at North Carolina  A&T University for 7 years.  She is well known for scheduling the nation's best teams for her programs.

The Starting Lineups:

Texas Tech

• G  Diamond Lockhart     Averages 5.7 Pts and has 5 Assists
• G  Minta Spears            Averages 16 Pts and has a 92.3% FT%
• G  Audrisa Harrison        Averages 6 Pts and 5 Rebounds/game
• G  Amber Battle             Averages 17.7 Pts and 11 Rebounds/game
• C  Shauntal Nobles        Averages 8 Pts and 6.7 Rebounds/game

Grambling State

• G  Joanna Miller             Averages 19.2 pts and has a 76.9%
• G  Victova Ricks                        Averages 11.8 Pts and 9.2 Rebounds/game
• G  Tyler Anderson                      Averages 9.6 Pts and 5 Rebounds/game
• F  Dennisha Chambers               Averages 9 Pts and 4.8 Rebounds/game
• F  Jordan Mitchell-Harmel           Averages 7.6 Pts and 5 Rebounds/game
• F  Jessica Watkins                    Averages 6.6 Pts and 5 Rebounds/game

Notes:

Texas Tech is first in the Big 12 and ranked 16th in the nation in Turnover Margin (5.16)

Lady Raider Amber Battle (17.7 ppg) is one of three Big12 players that are averaging a double-double on the young season.

Minta Spears (16.0 ppg) is one of five Big12 freshmen that are averaging double-figure scoring.

Texas Tech is 2nd in the Big 12 Conference with an 83.3 free throw percentage (70 of 84).

Texas Tech is 3rd in the Big 12 Conference with 31.3 defensive rebounds per game.

Texas Tech is 5th in the Big 12 Conference with a 34.6 field goal percentage defense.

Texas Tech is 5th in the Big 12 Conference with 4.3 blocks per game.

Amber Battle leads the Big 12 Conference in rebounding at 11.0 rebounds per game.

Amber Battle is 6th in the Big 12 Conference in scoring with 19 points per game.

Minta Spears leads the Big 12 Conference in minutes played with 35.3 per game.

Minta Spears is 10th overall and 2nd among freshmen in Big 12 Conference in scoring with 16.0 ppg.

Shauntal Nobles has the most starts (26) and minutes played (1,326) of any player on the roster.

The Big 12 has completed the first two weeks of the season with the nation's best non-conference win percentage (.828) and fewest losses (24-5).

The Big 12 led all leagues in non-conference win percentage the last three seasons (2011-13).

The Big 12 is outscoring non-league foes by 20.5 points and out-rebounding them by 8.5 boards.

Every Conference team is holding opponents to below a 39 percent field goal percentage.

The Big 12 is on a six-year run as the No. 1 conference in RPI and a 14-year streak as the nation's average attendance leader.

*----*----*----*

To view or listen to 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