Lady Raiders fall behind from start
By Travis Cram l Avalanche-Journal
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Texas Tech just couldn’t get its shots to fall in The Pit.
New Mexico point guard Amy Beggin could hardly miss.
Tech shot 28.1 percent from the field and Beggin scored a career-high 27 points to lead the Lobos to a 63-54 win Saturday night.
It was Tech’s lowest shooting percentage since Nov. 27, when the Lady Raiders shot 25 percent in a 56-48 loss to Iowa at the Paradise Jam tournament in the Virgin Islands.
Tech (5-4) did not attempt many high-profile shots and mostly found ways to get inside the paint early on the Lobos, but nothing would fall.
“You just can’t miss 3-foot shots,” Tech coach Kristy Curry said. “We only had nine turnovers. It wasn’t anything (New Mexico) did defensively. It’s just at some point you have to start hitting shots. At some point you have to finish.”
Tech’s demise began in the opening minutes of the game.
A rough start in the first half allowed the Lobos (9-1) to take a 9-0 lead with less than 15 minutes to play. Murphree and Roberson each picked up two fouls in the first three minutes.
That caused Curry to rotate in freshmen Kierra Mallard and Jordan Barncastle, who still could find very little inside the paint.
Mallard fouled out in the second half with eight points.
Seals had three fouls in 11 minutes and Roberson had three fouls in six minutes.
Curry said the team needs to continue to learn how to handle the road atmosphere and each other’s patience.
“That’s just a typical road situation, and you’ve got to be able to handle that,” Curry said. “We talked a lot about that and how we needed to handle it, but you’ve got to be mature enough and poised enough to handle it.”
The two teams shot poorly in the opening 20 minutes – Tech at 17.6 percent and New Mexico at 22.2 percent.
Tech and New Mexico went shot-for-shot early in the second half before Angela Hartill hit her fourth free throw in a row to help the Lobos take a five-point lead.
Hartill finished with a double-double, scoring 16 points while grabbing 10 rebounds.
New Mexico outrebounded Tech 48-38, and took advantage of free throws, hitting 23 of 31 (74 percent).
Tech’s Maria Moore tried to get things going with a steal and three-point play and Seals followed it with jumper inside to tie the game at 30 with 15:32 to go.
Moore finished with a team-high 11 points.
But Beggin was just beginning to warm up.
She hit two of her six 3-pointers – the latter figure tying a career-high – to help the Lobos break the tie with a 17-6 run, taking a 47-36 lead with 9:35 to play.
Not one Tech player had more than four points in the first half while Amanda Adamson and Beggin scored 17 of the Lobos’ 22 points.
Adamson finished with a double-double as well, scoring 10 points while leading the Lobos in rebounds with 20.
Tech took its first lead at 15-14 when Moore sank two free throws to cap a 7-2 run.
The Lady Raiders never trailed by more than one point until Beggin’s second 3 made it 22-20 going into halftime. That came after a 3 by Maddy Brown had given Tech a two-point lead.
With the post players finishing 8 of 31 from the field, Seals said it will be the bigger players’ responsibility to improve before the Lady Raiders take on Prairie View A&M back at home on Thursday.
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Coach Curry–
ditto what I said to Coach Knight about these dang games after finals and Christmas breaks. Why in Raider Red’s name to we have to ALWAYS lose these type games after lay-offs? Now your resume and reputation says you are top-notch. We’re waiting… and hoping… maybe even praying!
Coach- we don’t care how good you look on the sidelines or what you smell like. We just expect your to coach the dang dog out of these girls. I don’t know much about coachin girls myself, except that I do know they want to be treated like girls, but coached like men. So, you have a good nucleus and are doing a good job. But go kick ‘em in gear and squeeze the Raider Red out of ‘em. Coach Pat at Tennessee would be madder and hell and not want to take it anymore!!! How ’bout you?
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How the Lady Raiders have fallen! Shameful to see the Lady Raiders getting pounded by the weak sisters of the poor nowadays. Looks like a winless Big 12 season for the hapless Raiderettes. Teams like OU, Texas, A&M, and Baylor will rout these JUnior College wannabe has beens. Time is running out on the Christy Curry project.
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Before I begin, I want to say that I was absolutely delighted and excited when TTU hired Christy Curry. Over the last three years I have watched my enthusiasm and confidence turn to impatience and finally to disgust.
How many Raider fans are tired of hearing that the girls aren’t mature enough, weren’t prepared, etc.. What the hell is the coach suppose to do? GET THEM READY! I have said it several times already in different posts in this forum, but we have gone from being a perennial powerhouse for over a decade to the CELLAR of the big 12. Is it that our talent suddenly plummeted after Sharp’s retirement? That rationale seems very unlikely. What is more likely is that Curry just does not have what it takes to coach in the elite Big 12. LOOK AT UT!!! After one season with Coach G. they are in the top ten, whereas TTU is not even mentioned in any polls!!! Baylor, Oklahoma, UT all have top recruits, we barely made the top 25.
Coach Curry needs to start producing, and do it fast, or move one. She may be a competitor, hate to lose, be a fireball, yada yada yada, but I am only interested in seeing Big 12 Championships and hopes of national titles. I am SICK OF THE EXUCSES. There was a time that no matter where in the world I was, I looked forward to watching the Lady Raiders. When I lived in Europe, I would stay up until 3 or 4 in the morning to watch the scores on the internet. Now, it is hard just to go to a game.
I LOVE the Lady Raiders and what they have stood for, and I will remain loyal to them, but Coach Curry had better figure out what she needs to do with this year’s squad to win, because I do not think that Raider Nation is ready to watch its most consistent and prized athletic program, which has brought so much attention to this university, slip into oblivion…a laughing stock of the basketball world.
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Hey Coach Curry-
OK we know you inherited basically a run-down program. But hopefully you are putting in the overtime to get it to work.I don’t know too much else to say other than we support you, but it just cannot take much longer or the wolves will be howling . There’s the old saying, “If it is meant to be it is up to me”.
Come on coach – take charge, put your boots on, get in the middle and MAKE IT HAPPEN!!! We don’t care how and don’t even wanna know – just do it.
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Coach Curry obviously is not getting the job done. I still want to know why she had a player that was the best player on her AAU team that finished fifth in the nation. This girl barely got to play her first two years and was told she was no longer needed this year. Ashley Roberson was on this AAU team, too. She was not even close to Natalie Thomas in ability, but Ashley has seen plenty of minutes. Coach Curry obviously does not evaulate talent well. The girls she is recruiting are not getting the job done. She needs to go now. We used to win with girls from West Texas. Has she recruited West Texas? Fire her now and bring in Krist Gerhlich from West Texas A&M. She was on the 1993 National Champion team. Find someone who can return us to where we should be.
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Need more be said? Hurry Up Curry or you need to Scurry on!
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Biggest mistake Gerald Myers made was not hiring a Texas Tech graduate — Gary Blair.
This team is just awful and the coaching is pathetic.
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I felt a bit bad about my blasting of Coach Curry until I read today how Coach G. at UT just beat the pants of Pat Sumner’s Tennessee Team…AFTER ONE YEAR! Unlike our football program, the Lady Raiders cannot say that they did not get top talent over the years. We WERE elite, and girls dreamed of playing here. After three years of consistently getting worse, we will soon be scrapping the junior college barrel. Curry had better learn how to coach or she will soon be the first coach in TTU women’s basketball history with a losing record. We’ve now lost to IOWA and N.M., and it’s only mid-December. It reminds me of what Curry said a few days ago about challenging the girls to go 5-0 in December, but if they LOSE, to go for 4-0. With that attitude how about challenge the girls to go 1-4 !!!!! We most definitely should have thought about Gary Blair.
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Come on get Gary Blair, wake up Gerald Myers. You were slow on Leach, make up for it on Curry and get this team back into the Sharp league!
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I don’t want it back in the Sharp league, she is the reason the program is in the shape it is in.
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