Red Raiders Outlast Oklahoma, 67-55

LUBBOCK, Texas - Forward Alicia Thompson scored a game-high 22 points to lead the No. 14-ranked Texas Tech Lady Raiders (10-4, 2-2) to a hard-fought 67-55 win over the Oklahoma Sooners (5-9, 1-3), snapping a two-game conference losing streak in the process.

Both teams began the game a little tentative, but it was the Sooners taking an 8-4 lead with 15:19 left to play in the first half when Jenny Bramer nailed a short jumper.

The Tech sophomore guard/forward duo of Julie Lake and Rene Hanebutt chipped in a basket apiece, and tied the game at 8-8 a minute later. The Raiders finally got back in the lead when Hanebutt nailed a three-pointer to make the score 13-12 with 11:26 left in the first stanza. That sparked an 11-2 run that saw the Lady Raiders in command, 21-14, by the 8:55 mark of the first half.

A three-point basket by OU's Kelley Workman cut the lead to four, 21-17, but the Lady Raiders kept piling it on, capping a 9-2 run when Crystal Boles scored her second bucket of the evening with 5:06 to play in the first half to make the score 30-19.

The two teams traded buckets after that, but the Sooners could not close the gap any and the Lady Raiders took a 37-26 lead to the locker room at halftime.

The Lady Raiders, who had struggled from the field in a 49-63 loss at Colorado, connected on 14-of-23 field goal attempts in the first half for a sizzling 60.9 shooting percentage. That included 4-of-5 from outside the three-point arc. The Sooners, meanwhile, were limited to a respectable 45.8 shooting percentage.

Any thoughts of an early second half charge by the Sooners were iced quickly when Hanebutt canned a three-pointer with only 58 seconds gone by in the second half. The Lady Raiders responded with a 7-2 run that made the lead 15, 44-29, with 17:22 left to play.

The Sooners fought back with a 10-3 run of their own that made the score 47-39 with 14:19 to play in the contest. A revived Sooner defense held the Lady Raiders scoreless for the next four minutes, as the Sooners pulled to within two points, 47-45, on a jumper by Tina Taylor with 10:56 left to play.

The Lady Raiders turned to Thompson, their go-to girl, to put the Raiders back in command. Thompson scored back-to-back jumpers as the Raiders scored 13 of the game's next 17 points, building a 62-49 lead with 2:21 left to play. A late rally by the Sooners was held in check, and the Raiders had their tenth win of the season.

For the game, the Raiders shot 51 percent from the floor and held the Sooners to 42.6 percent. The Sooners did outrebound the taller Lady Raiders, 32-28.

Hanebutt and Lake chipped in 19 and 14 points, respectively, and Boles added 10 points. The Lady Raiders only scored two points off the bench.

Roxanne Long led the Sooners with 15 points. She was followed by Taylor with 13 and Workman and Phylesha Whaley with 10 apiece. Taylor and Whaley both fouled out of the contest.

"We had talked about consistency all week long," said Tech head coach Marsha Sharp, who picked up her 340th win. "Oklahoma did a great job of making it tough for us to win."

Lake credited a lot of the team's victory to better concentration.

"I think we did a better job of shot selection tonight," said Lake.

OKLAHOMA (55)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Whaley          25   2-5   6-8   2-7  0  5   10
M Workman       24   0-3   1-3   2-3  2  2    1
Taylor          35  6-12   1-3   2-7  0  5   13
Bramer          23   2-5   0-0   0-0  1  2    4
Long            40  5-12   2-2   1-4  3  4   15
Breedlove       17   1-4   0-1   0-0  1  3    2
K Workman       30   4-5   0-0   2-4  3  0   10
Stacy            6   0-1   0-0   2-3  0  0    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 20-47 10-17 11-28 10 21   55
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.426, FT-.588. 3-Point Goals:
5-18, .278 (M Workman 0-1, Taylor 0-2, Bramer
0-2, Long 3-8, Breedlove 0-2, K Workman 2-3).
Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: 1 (Taylor).
Turnovers: 25 (M Workman 5, K Workman 4, Whaley
4, Breedlove 3, Taylor 3, Bramer 2, Long 2).
Steals: 7 (Taylor 4, Breedlove, M Workman,
Whaley).
TEXAS TECH (67)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Thompson        34  8-16  6-11  4-11  2  1   22
Hanebutt        31   7-9   2-3   1-3  3  4   19
Boles           26   5-6   0-1   2-3  0  4   10
Parker          20   0-0   1-2   0-1  4  0    1
Lake            37  5-14   2-2   0-3  3  4   14
Schmucker       22   0-2   0-0   1-2  4  3    0
Gibbs            6   0-1   1-2   1-1  1  1    1
Cockerell        4   0-1   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Dickerson       20   0-0   0-0   1-3  1  3    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 25-49 12-21 10-27 18 20   67
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.510, FT-.571. 3-Point Goals:
5-13, .385 (Thompson 0-1, Hanebutt 3-4, Lake 2-7,
Schmucker 0-1). Team rebounds: 1. Blocked shots:
7 (Boles 4, Thompson, Cockerell, Parker).
Turnovers: 18 (Hanebutt 4, Boles 3, Dickerson 3,
Schmucker 3, Thompson 3, Lake 2). Steals: 9
(Thompson 3, Dickerson 2, Parker 2, Lake,
Schmucker).
__________________________________
Oklahoma           26   29  -   55
Texas Tech         37   30  -   67
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 7,739. Officials: Don
Melton, Eric Larson, Connie Pardue.

Printer-friendly format	Email this article