Lady Raiders vs. UAPB Golden Lions

Go Lady Raiders!!!

RAIDER !!!! POWER!!!!

Game: Lady Raiders vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions

Date: Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Time: 7:00pm 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: FOX College Sports (FCS) - Atlantic as part of Texas Tech TV

The Lady Raiders (3-3, 0-0) take on the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions (1-5, 0-0) tonight in the United Spirit Arena. The game will be played at 7pm CST and will be televised on FOX College Sports (FCS) - Atlantic as part of Texas Tech TV. This game is only the 2^nd time the Lady Raiders and the Golden Lions have played with Tech winning 97-57 in 2009.

The Lady Golden Lions have played a number of games this season against marquee basketball schools. They have mainly played on the road and visited Marquette, Iowa, Xavier and Nebraska. Their only win was their season opener at home against Philander Smith College. This team has a number of seasoned players. There starters are good on the boards and they have a height advantage over the Lady Raiders in that both of the UAPB Forwards are 6.0'. They have at least two starters that are on the "do not foul this player list". Guard Destiny Ham and Guard Cassidy Wright have an 81% and 70% FT%. They have strong bench players that can make an impact. Guard Charisse Carr already has 7 Steals and Guard Carlisha Walker has 9 Steals on the season. As a team the Golden Lions have 49 Steals in the first 4 weeks of play. The Golden Lions are a strong 2^nd half team and have pushed their opponents hard in the later moments of the games.

The Lady Raiders are returning to the USA tonight after playing in the "Barclays Center Women's Invitational" in Brooklyn, NY over the Thanksgiving weekend. Tech played Michigan on Friday, Nov 29^th and lost 72-61 and then played Rutgers on Saturday, Nov 30^th and came up short 61-52. In the Michigan game, the Lady Raiders stayed even with the Lady Wolverines until the twelve minute mark and then U-M went on a 22-7 run and Tech never could catch back up despite a 12 point run of their own in the waning minutes of the game. In the Rutgers game Tech came out and scored the first points but then allowed the Lady Scarlet Knights to go on a 6-2 run and Tech committed 21 Turnovers in the game which resulted in 24 of the Rutgers points. Tech faltered to Rutgers despite Amber Battle having another double-double game with 19 points and 12 rebounds and having good support from fellow teammates Audrisa Harrison and Jasmine Caston each with 11 points.

Quote from HC Candi Whitaker on what to take away from the "Barclays Center Women's Invitational" games heading into Wednesday's game:

"We've got to execute better and know what we are doing against man, zone defenses. But I thought we got better in some areas and that's what we are trying to do every day."

The strengths for this Lady Raiders team are in their scoring, blocked shots, steals and they do not commit fouls. Tech scores an average of 70 points per game and they are 3^rd in the country in FT% at 82.2%. Tech is in the top third of the country in blocked-shots averaging almost 4 per game and they have 41 steals in the first 4-weeks of play averaging 6 steals per game. The Lady Raiders have struggled in allowing Turnovers. They are averaging 15 TOs per game. The Lady Raiders need to improve on their 3-Point shots with an average of 34.9%.

The UAPB Head Coach, Nate Kilbert, begins his 2^nd season with the Golden Lions. He is the reigning Southwestern Athletic Conference coach-of-the-year. He was the head coach at Mississippi Valley State University for 11 years until he was chosen as the Head Coach for UAPB in May 2012. Kilbert's record at UAPB is 14-23.

The Starting Lineups:

Texas Tech

- G Diamond Lockhart Averages 6.5 PPG and 100% FT%

- G Minta Spears Averages 13 PPG and 3.2 RPG and 86.4 FT%

- G Audrisa Harrison Averages 4.7 PPG and 3.7 RPG and 77.8 FT%

- G Amber Battle Averages 17.2 PPG and 10 RPl

- C Shauntal Nobles Averages 6.8 PPG and 7.0 RPG and 88.2 FT%

Arkansas-Pine Bluff

- G Christina Lasane Averages 7.7 PPG and 3.5 RPG

- F Mollie Campbell Averages 2.2 PPG and 3.2 RPG

- G Destiny Ham Averages 4.8 PPG and 81% FT%

- G Cassidy Wright Averages 8.2 PPG and 60% FT%

- F Marion Thompson Averages 3.5 PPG and 4.8 RPG

Notes:

The Big 12 has completed the first four weeks of the season with a non-conference win percentage of .738 (48-17).

The Big 12 is one of two conferences in which every team is .500 or better and no team has more than three losses.

Sixty percent of Big 12 teams are in the top 34 of the Jeff Sagarin RPI ratings and the Big 12 is rated No. 1 among conferences.

The Big 12 will have three matchups against Associated Press Top 5 teams this week. In the first four weeks of the season the Big 12 faced six ranked teams with three of those in the top 10

Every Big 12 team is holding opponents to under a 40% field goal percentage.

Nineteen freshmen have combined to start 51 games so far this season. Eighteen rookies are averaging over 5.0 points an outing

To view the game go to FOX College Sports (FCS) [FOX College Sports - Atlantic (Suddenlink 509; AT&T Uverse 647;NTS 039)]

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 TexasTech.com.