BY TRAVIS CRAM
AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

Not even a bloody nose could stop Texas Tech’s Maria Moore on Thursday night.

Moore, who was Tech’s lone scorer in double figures in a loss to New Mexico Saturday, was one of five Lady Raiders with double digits, scoring 11 points while racking up seven assists and five rebounds to help lead Tech to a 72-55 win over Prairie View A&M at United Spirit Arena.

Texas Tech's Dominic Seals (41) grabs a rebound over Prairie View A&M's Gatti Werema, left, and Twila Stokes during the Lady Raiders' 72-55 win on Thursday at United Spirit Arena.

Moore set the pace for the game and Dominic Seals controlled the boards and paint for the Lady Raiders (6-4), picking up her fourth double-double of the season with 22 points and 14 rebounds.

Seals returned to her norm Thursday night, scoring in double figures for the ninth time this season after breaking an eight-game streak with only five points against New Mexico.

“I felt like I kind of let my team down in New Mexico,” Seals said. “And in order for us to win, I have to play good and Maria has to talk on the floor and do things like she did today.”

The aggression that ended the first half for a 32-29 lead was in large part due to Moore and carried over into a more fast-paced second half with three Lady Raiders getting into double figures in points before the 14-minute mark, extending Tech’s lead to as many as 12 points with a 51-39 lead.

Tech (6-4) led by as many as 19 points and scored on six of its last nine possessions after going without a field goal for 10 possessions in a 6-minute stretch in the second half.

Each time the Lady Panthers (2-8) tried to even the game up — getting within four points five different times in the second half — Tech had an answer.

Moore matched Prairie View A&M’s Candice Thomas on two different occasions with 3-pointers of her own and Kierra Mallard and Seals began to control the paint.

Mallard finished with 10 points along with Keisha Walker (11) and Jordan Murphree (11).

The Lady Raiders had only 12 points in the paint 16 minutes into the first half. They ended with 36 points in the paint against Prairie View A&M after scoring only 24 against the Lobos on Saturday.

“I think we’ve got to change our lineup to some degree and that may just depend on who we’re playing,” head coach Kristy Curry said. “But I thought athletically tonight that Mallard and Seals were really giving them problems inside.”

Tech finally got a grasp on things after a shaky start resulted in eight Prairie View A&M points off 11 turnovers. Moore and Walker kept control of the offense as the Lady Raiders gave up only six turnovers the rest of the way.

“Me and Keisha just told each other that we needed to keep our team up,” Moore said. “We didn’t want to have any letdowns so we just kept pushing them.”

The first half looked a lot like where the team left off in New Mexico. The Lady Raiders hit only 25 percent of their shots in the opening nine minutes, falling behind by as many as six points at 17-11.

Seals had nine of Tech’s first 11 points.

Moore felt she needed to quicken the pace a bit and help take control of the game.

She went coast to coast with six seconds left, hitting a short jumper as time expired in the first half to give Tech a 32-29 lead at the break.

The Lady Raiders hit 8 of 13 shots (62 percent) after the 11-minute mark to end the first half.

It would eventually work into an 11-2 run that carried over into the beginning of the second half.

Moore and Walker scored all 11 points during the run to take a 36-29 lead, Tech’s largest advantage at the time.

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