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Go Lady Raiders!!!
RAIDER !!!! POWER !!!!
Game: Lady Raiders vs.#4 Texas Longhorns
Date: Saturday, January 17, 2015
Time: 12:00 Noon CST
Location: Frank Erwin Center in Austin, TX
Radio: Texas Tech Sports Network (97.3 FM Lubbock) and 1300 AM KVET (Austin, TX)
Live Stats: SideArmStats.com
TV: LHN ( TWC 383, U-Verse 609/1609HD, Suddenlink 91/291HD, Dish 407 611 )
Listen: TexasTechTV.com
The Lady Raiders (12-4, 2-2) had a strong road win over the West Virginia Mountaineers on Wednesday, January 14, 2015 in Morgantown, WV. The win ended 17 road-game losses. The Lady Raiders had not won a road game since beating Kansas in February 2013. The game started out like the last few games, Texas Tech fell behind 15-6 in the 1st half. Then the Lady Raiders started to play like we all know they can. Tech went on a 16 to 6 run in the final eight minutes of the 1st half. The run continued into the 2nd half, with Tech hitting another 16 points in the first ten minutes to WVU's 4 points. The final score was Tech 55 and West Virginia 45. The Lady Raiders held the Mountaineers to 30.9% FG% and 6.3% 3-Pt%. While Tech only had a total of 38 rebounds compared to the Mountaineers 46, the Lady Raiders had 29 Defensive Rebounds. Tech limited WVU's Bria Holmes, the Big 12's leading scorer, to 16 points. She was scoreless for a 22-minute stretch. .Amber Battle scored 20 points and Minta Spears had a good night with 10 points. The Lady Raiders need to improve on their free-throws and their 2nd-Chance-Points. A 61% FT% completion rate is not going to cut it in the Big12 race and only earning four 2nd-Chance-Pts compared to WVU's 16 is not good either. I am proud of this team in not letting the losses get to them and coming together and playing a complete game. There is still room for improvement and the Big12 games that lay ahead of them will not be easy but I have a much improved feeling about this team and they will more and more be a team to be reckoned with.
On getting the win over WVU Head Coach Candi Whitaker:
"It's great to get this win. It's exciting for our team. Any Big 12 win is important and is a big win - whether it's at home or on the road. It's obviously difficult to go on the road so I'm proud that we were so set on go. Our players, you could just tell with the energy they played with and the look on their face that they were going to win this game and were determined to win it."
This afternoon the Lady Raiders face the #4 Texas Longhorns (13-2, 2-2) in a road game in Austin, TX at the Frank Erwin Center at 12 Noon. This will be the 93rd meeting between these teams with UT leading the series 63-29. The Longhorns are coming off two road-game losses and they will be doing their best to get back into their grove. Their power-house player is Senior Forward #3 Nneka Enemkpali, who averages 13.4 ppg, and is number one in the Big12 standings with 10.8 rpg and has 32 Blocks (avg 2.3/game) this season. She is supported by Junior Guard #32 Brady Sanders who adds an average of 8.4 ppg and is 77.8% FT%. Sophomore Center # 40 Kelsey Lang averages 11.1 ppg and 6.1 rpg. Lang was the leading scorer but she has struggled in the Big12 games averaging only 5 ppg. Junior Guard # 1 Empress Davenport averages 7.7ppg and 3.6 rpg and 73% FT% and she has 34 TO's. Senior Guard# 4 Krystle Henderson averages 2.1 ppg is a strong transition player with a knack for getting Steals.
Texas is currently 3rd in the Big12 in Scoring Defense with an average of 54.6 ppg and Rebounding Offense 44.6%/game. The Longhorns are struggling at the free-throw line with only 65.7% FT% and UTis also not very strong on the outside and is in 9th place in the Big 12 rankings in 3-Pt 2.8% FG %. The Mountaineers are extremely strong on the boards and are in 1st place in the Big12 in Blocked Shots.
I will be at "The Drum" cheering the Lady Raiders on this afternoon. I am hopeful that they can beat the Longhorns and break the 12-game winning streak that UT holds for their home games. I hope Tech continues to improve and uses the momentum they got from the win over WVU to play an extremely solid game and beat UT.
The Starters for today's game are: Sophomore Guard #3 Minta Spears who is averaging 8.8 ppg and is 78.6% accurate at the charity stripe and is currently ranked 1st in the Big 12 standings for 3-Pt FG% with 48.2% (27-56); Junior (transfer) Guard #11 Rayven Brooks had 6.8 points and 3.7 rebounds and is currently ranked 9th in the Big12 standings for Blocked Shots with 16 blocks this season; Freshman Forward #32 Dayo Olabode makes 8.3 ppg and 5.9 rebounds and is currently 16th in the Big12 with an average of 5.8 rebounds per games (93 total this season); Senior Forward #41 Kelsi Baker averages 10.2 ppg and 5.4 rebounds and is ranked 13th in the Big12 standing in both Offensive Rebounds (2.25/game) and 12th place in FT% at 69.3% (52-75); and Senior Guard #12 Amber Battle who averages 16 ppg and 7.2 rebounds.
Keep the wins coming ..... Wreck'Em !!!!
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The game can be heard on the radio 93.7 FM (Lubbock and on the Texas Tech Sports Network )
TV viewing will be available on the Longhorn LHN ( TWC 383, U-Verse 609/1609HD, Suddenlink 91/291HD, Dish 407 611 )
For a fee the game will have audio streaming on TexasTechTV.com
Live stats will be available on SideArmStats.com