Movement to March starts with a bang for Lady Raiders

In her second year as head coach of the women’s basketball team, Marlene Stollings brought it all to the table. Texas Tech slammed Sam Houston State to win 99-57 in front of ~4,000 faithful at home.

First we have to talk about Brittany Brewer. As the star-senior of the team she showed up big for the Lady Raiders. Brewer finished with 17 points, 14 rebounds and eight blocks. Late in the fourth quarter she solidified the significance of her presence in the program by reaching the 1,000 career point mark. That makes Brewer the 33rd player in program history to reach that achievement.

The leaders of scoring tonight were actually newcomers Jo’Nah Johnson and Alexis Tucker with 23 points each. Johnson is a junior that transferred to Texas Tech from Northeastern Oklahoma A&M while Tucker is a freshman out of southern California. Tucker’s 23 points were accompanied by 13 assists to make it her first double-double at the collegiate level.

Another player to highlight, and to transition to complimenting the defense, was Sydney Goodson. Goodson sat out last year after transferring from Arizona State (because NCAA), but has immediately proved her grit on the court by notching 4 steals and putting up 12 points of her own. The awareness of this team on the defensive end of things is markedly higher than it was last season, and kept the Bearkats to just 6 points in the third period.

The first half was fairly back and forth between Tech and Sam Houston State, but a 11-2 run over the final three minutes lifted the Lady Raiders over the Bearkats 42-40 at the half. Then out of the half Texas Tech rocketed ahead with a 18-4 run to ultimately take control of the game. Then the third quarter was an abysmal outing for Sam Houston State, who only mounted 6 points to Tech’s 29 - to all but hammer the nails in the coffin. Stollings kept her team on the pedal and closed the second half outscoring the Bearkats 51-17. Five women finished the game with double-digit efforts and Texas Tech is off to a 1-0 start in the 2019 season.

Up next the Lady Raiders will take on Florida A&M, Monday night at 6pm.