BY TRAVIS CRAM
AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

Kristy Curry wanted to see some change in the Texas Tech women’s basketball team on Sunday.

After a 59-50 win Friday that was described as “ugly,” Curry changed the starting lineup, wore the red uniforms for the second time this season and had an extra player back on the bench.

“Maybe we should just stay red,” Curry said.

Texas Tech's Tilmila Martin powers through Texas-Arlington's Meghan Nelson, left, and Nicole Terral. Martin scored 10 points in Tech's win on Sunday.

The changes worked as four Lady Raiders scored in double figures to help give Tech a 72-57 win over Texas-Arlington in front of an announced crowd of 7,826 at United Spirit Arena.

Dominic Seals led the scoring with 15 points as Tilmila Martin, Maria Moore and Maddy Brown each finished with 10.

Tech (4-0) was more aggressive defensively and capitalized on the Mavericks miscues. The Lady Raiders had 33 points off 24 Mavericks’ turnovers — including 16 steals by Tech.

“I figured they would come out and try and get after us,” Texas-Arlington head coach Samantha Morrow said. “Kudos to them, because they caused our guards a lot of trouble.”

Tech’s defensive prowess helped the Lady Raiders early in the second half after Texas-Arlington closed Tech’s 34-28 halftime lead to two points with 16:24 to play. Curry then brought in Alana Rumph, who got her first start this season, and Moore to help defensively.

The moves worked.

Texas Tech's Ashlee Roberson (31) tries to shoot over Texas-Arlington's Erin Dixon (50) on Sunday at United Spirit Arena.

Tech forced four turnovers and Ashlee Roberson got her first points of the season to cap a 10-0 run. Martin had two steals during the run and Rumph added another. Martin was a big part of that defensive surge, grabbing six steals. Rumph did not score but had her most minutes in a game this season (19) after coming into Sunday’s contest averaging five minutes per game.

“Alana Rumph really gave us a spark defensively,” Curry said. “I just think that they need to understand that we really, really need to do a better job defensively and everything starts up top.”

Texas-Arlington (1-2) never pulled within less than seven points after the Tech run. The Lady Raiders built their largest lead at 16 points with less than eight minutes to play.

Seals’ physical play inside allowed for space to open up around Brown and Moore, who combined for five of Tech’s eight 3-pointers. But it could also go vice-versa.

“I thought it opened some things for us,” Curry said. “The thing I liked about Domino was that she didn’t back down from a bump today. She was much more aggressive against it and she went and got her shots and found ways to score. She didn’t let it deter her from her plan and doing what she wanted to do.”