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January 8, 1997

Cowgirls Stun Texas Tech

LUBBOCK, Texas - The West Texas weather turned cold two days before the No. 7-ranked Texas Tech Lady Raiders played the Oklahoma State Cowgirls, apparently taking the Raiders hot play with it.

The Lady Raiders (9-3, 1-1) pasted Baylor 75-58 in Waco Saturday for their first Big 12 win. They expected to do the same to the Cowgirls (8-3, 1-1). Things didn't turn out as expected, as the Cowgirls shocked the Lady Raiders, and a crowd of almost 5,000 fans in the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum, 78-56.

In their first 10 possessions, the Raiders scored one field goal on a layin by junior forward Alicia Thompson, turning the ball over four times in that period. The Cowgirls, meanwhile, were sizzling, eventually building a 14-2 lead at the 14:18 mark of the first half.

The Lady Raiders cut the lead to six with a 6-0 run sparked by two jump shots by junior post Crystal Boles. That's as close as the Lady Raiders would get.

OSU's Jennifer Crow sparked a Cowgirl run with a three-pointer, as Oklahoma State stretched the lead to 26-10 with 5:41 left to play in the first period. The Lady Raiders scored six of their next eight points at the free-throw line. It wasn't enough, though. OSU continued their offensive onslaught, scoring 15 more points to take a 41-18 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The 41 points marked the most given up by the Lady Raiders in a half all season, and the 18 points scored were the fewest scored in a half by the Lady Raiders all season.

The Raiders shot an atrocious 21.4 percent in the first half, and allowed the Cowgirls to shoot 54.8 percent.

OSU ended any thought the Lady Raiders might have about a second-half comeback after only 24 seconds of play. Cheri Edwards hit a jumper, and Sarah Boyd followed that with a three-pointer as the Cowgirls ran off the first seven points of the period. The lead was 48-18 when Thompson, who was 1-for-12 with five points in the first half, scored Tech's first bucket at the 18:15 mark.

Neither offense was able to do much during the next few minutes. A Boyd jumper gave the Cowgirls their largest lead of the game, 31 points, with 14:21 left in the game when her jumper made the score 54-23 OSU.

After that, it was a tennis match. The Lady Raiders were never able to push the gap to less than 20 points until less than a minute showed on the game clock. Even then, a late five-point rally by OSU's Sara Jackson, who scored all five points with less than four seconds left on the clock, pushed the final victory margin back over 20 points.

The loss was the Lady Raiders' worst home loss in the 1990s, and equaled a 22-point drubbing by Louisiana Tech (79-57) way back on Jan. 14, 1989. Only Texas, who defeated the Lady Raiders 89-56 on Jan. 16, 1988, put up a larger victory in Lubbock in recent history.

For the game, three Cowgirls scored in double figures, with Renee Roberts leading the way with 19. Thompson scored 25 points, but was only 8-of-26 from the field. Keitha Dickerson chipped in 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting, as the Lady Raiders shot 29 percent for the game. The Cowgirls, meanwhile, shot 51.6 percent against a Lady Raider team ranked fourth in the nation in field goal defense.

The Lady Raiders shot 3-of-11 from three-point land, while the Cowgirls made 8-of-14 shots, including 6-of-8 in the first half.

The Cowgirls rocked the boards as well, grabbing 45 rebounds to 35 for Tech.

"Your guess is as good as mine as to what happened tonight," said Tech head coach Marsha Sharp after the game. "Tonight I was disappointed and embarassed because we didn't play with any heart. We just stood around on defense and let Oklahoma State do what they wanted to."

The Lady Raiders will try to regroup when they head to Boulder, Colorado to play the Colorado Buffaloes Saturday night. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. 

OKLAHOMA ST (78)                                                               
                      fg    ft    rb                                           
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp                                
Roberts         27  9-10   1-1   4-7  3  1   19                                
Edwards         34  6-15   0-0   1-9  3  3   13                                
Wyatt-folsom    27   1-5   0-2   1-9  3  4    2                                
Bower           30  3-10   0-0   0-4  1  3    7                                
Boyd            25   4-7   0-0   0-1  2  0    9                                
Sa Jackson      10   3-4   2-3   1-2  1  1   10                                
Douglass         3   0-1   0-0   1-2  0  1    0                                
Harmon           9   0-0   1-2   0-1  0  0    1                                
Sh Jackson       3   1-2   0-0   1-2  0  0    2                                
Crow            21   3-7   0-0   1-3  1  0    9                                
Releford        11   3-3   0-0   1-1  0  4    6                                
_______________________________________________                                
TOTALS         200 33-64   4-8 11-41 14 17   78                                
_______________________________________________                                
                                                                               
Percentages: FG-.516, FT-.500. 3-Point Goals:                                  
8-14, .571 (Edwards 1-1, Bower 1-5, Boyd 1-1, Sa                               
Jackson 2-3, Crow 3-4). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked                              
shots: 1 (Crow). Turnovers: 16 (Bower 2, Crow 2,                               
Edwards 2, Harmon 2, Releford 2, Roberts 2, Boyd,                              
Sa Jackson, Sh Jackson, Wyatt-folsom). Steals: 9                               
(Roberts 3, Boyd 2, Edwards 2, Wyatt-folsom 2).                                
                                                                               
TEXAS TECH (56)                                                                
                      fg    ft    rb                                           
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp                                
Hanebutt        30   1-7   4-4   1-6  2  2    7                                
Thompson        34  8-26  9-13  4-11  1  1   25                                
Boles           29   3-8   0-0   2-6  1  2    6                                
Schmucker       19   1-2   0-0   0-1  0  2    3                                
Lake            33   1-5   0-0   0-0  2  0    3                                
Gibbs            2   0-1   0-0   0-0  0  1    0                                
Cockerell        4   0-1   0-0   0-0  0  1    0                                
Dickerson       24   4-9   4-7   3-5  0  2   12                                
Parker          22   0-3   0-0   2-3  7  0    0                                
Tate             3   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0                                
_______________________________________________                                
TOTALS         200 18-62 17-24 12-32 13 11   56                                
_______________________________________________                                
                                                                               
Percentages: FG-.290, FT-.708. 3-Point Goals:                                  
3-11, .273 (Hanebutt 1-4, Thompson 0-1, Schmucker                              
1-2, Lake 1-3, Parker 0-1). Team rebounds: 3.                                  
Blocked shots: 4 (Boles 4). Turnovers: 12                                      
(Schmucker 4, Boles 3, Lake 2, Cockerell,                                      
Hanebutt, Parker). Steals: 8 (Dickerson 5,                                     
Thompson 2, Schmucker).                                                        
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Oklahoma St        41   37  -   78                                             
Texas Tech         18   38  -   56                                             
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Technical fouls: None.  A: 7,892. Officials:                                   
Marla Denham, Greg Small, Bruce Allen.

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