Lady Raiders Race To 23-point Win

LUBBOCK, Texas -- The No. 11-ranked Texas Tech Lady Raiders (5-0) launched a barrage of three-pointers in the first half and then stayed just at arm's length in the second half in posting their third home win of the young season, 74-51 over the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles (1-6).

It was the Lady Raiders' 33rd home win in a row, which stands as the second-longest active streak in the nation behind Stanford.

The Lady Raiders started the game slowly, but warmed up quickly behind the shooting of sophomore guard Rene Hanebutt. Hanebutt nailed 5-of-7 three-point attempts in the first half as the Raiders extended a 7-7 tie at the 13:40 mark to a 25-15 lead at the 7:35 mark.

That's when the Raiders really blew the game open. Junior forward Alicia Thompson scored six of her game-high 28 points on one possession late in the first half when she nailed a three-pointer. A defensive foul away from the shot gave the Raiders possession of the ball again, and Thompson nailed another three-pointer. In all, the Lady Raiders hit 7-of-15 three-pointers in the first half.

The Lady Raiders rode the late-first half surge to a 44-19 lead at the half.

The second act was a different story.

After shooting only 24 percent in the first half, the Eagles scorched the nets in the second, connecting on 13-of-23 field goals for a 56.5 percent shooting mark. The Lady Raiders, who shot 48.6 percent in the first half, cooled off meanwhile. Tech managed only 10-of-27 shooting in the second, thanks in large part to the ORU players' hustle on defense.

Playing an aggressive, active zone (that ORU coach Jerry Finkbeiner called the "Twilight Zone") the Eagles at one point narrowed the gap to 19 points with 14:36 left to play in the game, but could come no closer as the Raiders hung on for the win.

Thompson saw her four-game streak of double-doubles end after collecting nine rebounds. Hanebutt tied a school record with six three-pointers in the contest, finishing with 18 points. For the game, the Raiders tied a school record with nine three-pointers and set a record by attempting 23. Freshman point guard Melinda Schmucker continued to impress, scoring 10 points while sophomore guard Julie Lake dished out 10 assists.

The Raiders had 12 steals and out-rebounded Oral Roberts 40-31 despite the presence of 6-5 post Kisa Bradley, who accounted for 54 percent of her team's offense after scoring 27 points. The senior from Detroit, Mich. also collected 12 boards and blocked five Red Raider shots.

"It was kind of a good news/bad news game," said Tech head coach Marsha Sharp after the game. "I thought we played really well the first half. Thompson and Hanebutt hit some big shots.

"We need to work on extending a lead in the second half. They played a zone defense that slowed the game down. At times we weren't very selective taking shots."

The Lady Raiders will get eight days rest before traveling to Alabama to play No. 23 Auburn on Dec. 14. Gametime there is set for 1 p.m. central time. The Raiders will follow that with a home contest against defending national-champion and No. 4-ranked Tennessee Dec. 18 at 7 p.m.

"We've got our work cut out for us, but it's time for us to take that step," said Sharp.

ORAL ROBERTS (51)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Davis           31   3-7   0-0   1-4  0  2    6
Collier         24   1-5   0-0   1-3  2  4    2
Bradley         36 11-24   5-6  5-12  3  2   27
Kelley          22   2-7   1-2   0-1  1  0    7
Rose            30   1-4   0-0   0-2  4  2    3
Barrera          4   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Porter          13   0-0   0-0   0-2  1  3    0
Olival           4   0-1   0-0   0-0  0  1    0
Wilbur           3   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  1    0
Jaminson         4   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Karvanen        13   1-3   1-2   0-5  1  0    3
Lewis-osborne   16   1-1   1-2   0-0  0  2    3
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 20-52  8-12  7-29 12 17   51
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.385, FT-.667. 3-Point Goals:
3-9, .333 (Kelley 2-6, Rose 1-2, Olival 0-1).
Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 5 (Bradley 5).
Turnovers: 19 (Davis 6, Collier 4, Rose 4,
Bradley 3, Barrera, Porter). Steals: 8 (Bradley
2, Collier 2, Rose 2, Barrera, Lewis-osborne).
TEXAS TECH (74)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Hanebutt        37  7-16   0-0   0-5  1  1   20
Thompson        34 10-18   6-7   2-9  1  0   28
Gibbs           11   0-1   0-0   0-1  1  1    0
Lake            26   2-7   0-0   1-2  7  1    4
Schmucker       39   3-9   3-4   1-3  3  2   10
Cockerell       18   3-4   2-3   3-9  0  0    8
Boles           11   0-0   0-0   0-0  1  1    0
Dickerson       18   2-5   0-3   5-9  1  1    4
Parker           1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Sumrall          1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Tate             4   0-2   0-0   0-0  0  1    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 27-62 11-17 12-38 15  8   74
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.435, FT-.647. 3-Point Goals:
9-23, .391 (Hanebutt 6-11, Thompson 2-5, Lake
0-1, Schmucker 1-4, Tate 0-2). Team rebounds: 2.
Blocked shots: 1 (Lake). Turnovers: 14 (Lake 5,
Schmucker 4, Hanebutt 3, Gibbs 2). Steals: 12
(Lake 3, Thompson 3, Hanebutt 2, Schmucker 2,
Boles, Cockerell).
__________________________________
Oral Roberts       19   32  -   51
Texas Tech         44   30  -   74
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 7,756. Officials:
Connie Pardue, Bill Carter, Jeff Caudle.

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