Lady Raiders upset No. 8 Texas, 65-62
Texas Tech 65, No. 8 Texas 62 on 12seconds.tv
BY TRAVIS CRAM l AVALANCHE-JOURNAL
Let’s face it, nothing ever really goes according to plan.
And it didn’t have to Saturday for the Texas Tech women’s basketball team. Tilmila Martin’s baseline feed to forward Dominic Seals to give Tech a 65-62 upset win over No. 8 Texas was not the play Tech head coach Kristy Curry called.
“Oh, no,” Curry said. “It didn’t run to perfection at all.”
But it did the trick, giving Curry her first win over
Jordan Murphree (13) scored 19 points in Tech's fifth consecutive win on Saturday.
a top-10 team since arriving in Lubbock. It was also the first time the Lady Raiders won their Big 12 Conference opener under the third-year coach.
Tech (10-4, 1-0 Big 12) was hoping to find a shooter along the outside on its final play after Texas’ Kathleen Nash sank her second of two free throws to tie the game, 62-62. But Martin found Seals sitting under the basket with Texas’ Ashley Lindsey to her back side, and Seals scored to finish with 16 points and 10 rebounds — her sixth double-double of the season and 13th game to score in double digits.
“In my head, I was actually thinking, ‘Dunk it,’” said Seals, who had missed her previous three shots from around the same area in the paint. “If I say, ‘Dunk it,’ then I think I’m going to make it. So that’s why I elevated and I made it.”
That gave Texas (12-3, 0-1) seven seconds to try to get back down the court for a tying or winning basket. Longhorns guard Carla Cortijo drove past midcourt and looked for Nash, who was 4 of 9 from 3-point range in the game. But as Cortijo and Nash got near the arc, Tech’s Jordan Murphree drew a charge on Nash — who did not have the ball — giving the Lady Raiders the ball with two seconds left.
Tiny Henderson split two free throws and Cortijo missed a last-second desperation shot from midcourt.
“I think I saw her coming and I was just ready for anything,” Murphree said. “I saw Cortijo coming and I was ready for anything. I was ready for her or to switch off and take Nash. (Nash) just ran into me and (we) got tangled up.”
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Texas coach Gail Goestenkors said the play was “extremely unusual” and not one she could fully explain due to Big 12 rules that prohibit coaches from commenting about officiating.
“It’s a war in the Big 12,” she said. “You have to play at an elite level and you can’t rely on officiating in any way, shape or form. If it’s a close game, you don’t want to give the officials an opportunity to have an impact.”
Texas jumped out to a 13-4 lead with 15 minutes left in the first half — its largest lead of the game — after a 9-0 run by the Longhorns broke a 4-4 tie.
Tech gave up six turnovers in the first eight minutes before everything shifted in the way of the Lady Raiders.
Tech forced eight Texas turnovers over the final 12 minutes of the half and outscored the Longhorns 23-7 in an eight-minute span that stretched into the opening four minutes of the second half. Texas only shot 25 percent over the same stretch.
The Lady Raiders led by as many as 13 points with less than seven minutes to play but had to fight off a surge by the Longhorns that eventually brought the teams to a 62-62 tie.
Murphree led Tech with 19 points, one game after scoring a career-high 22 points in a 75-60 win against Arkansas. She also tied a career high with three 3-pointers on Saturday.
Goestenkors said she did not expect Murphree to have such an impact with her outside shooting.
“We really didn’t (plan for it),” she said. “(Murphree) likes to put the ball on the floor a lot so we were anticipating that. She played a great game, all around. We didn’t do a good job on her all night long. She just took advantage of whatever was available, whether it was an outside shot or drive to the basket.”
The Longhorns lost their third consecutive road game after losing to San Diego State and Purdue in the previous two weeks. They only hit 57 percent from the free-throw line, and they were averaging 77 percent coming into Saturday’s contest.
The victory gives Tech a five-game winning streak — all home wins — as the team gets ready for a road contest with No. 3 Texas A&M at 7 p.m. Tuesday in College Station.
Curry will try to win back-to-back conference games for the fifth time at Tech and win her first conference road game since beating Nebraska in Lincoln, 70-69, in February 2007.
“It’s great to start conference play with a win,” she said. “But let’s make sure we understand what we did (Saturday) still looks good (the next day). … Our goal is to be playing in March and today was just one of 16 pieces to that.”
travis.cram@lubbockonline.com – 766-8736
jeff.walker@lubbockonline.com – 766-8735
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WOW! Way to go Lady Raiders! And against Texas makes this even sweeter.
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Very impressive Lady Raiders!!! Keep this going! Work hard and continue getting better…many good things are in store for this season!!
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Happy, happy , happy for the Lady Raiders. When will Tech ever get a “RUN &GUN” game going? That “slow “down the court drives me crazy!!!
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Nice win Lady Raiders!
Wreck ‘em Tech!
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I love womwns basketball it gives ugly girls something to do.
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I love Mark Twain who said that ” it is better to keep your mouth shut and have people think you’re a fool than open it and remove al doubt”.
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It seems the Texas Tech teams are making a habit of beating Texas teams at every turn. An honorable tradition to follow!!!
AWESOME JOB LADY RAIDERS!!!!!!!
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I am certainly proud of the Lady Raiders for beating UT again this year at home. It is always a high moment in the season for me. This victory made me so excited and hopeful….then I remembered….oh yeah, we beat UT at home last year, were 10th in the league (bottom dwellers), we lost to MIssouri and just about everybody else. How different is this team? Let’s see: almost didn’t get it done AGAIN at the end because of defense. They threw away a large lead, and squeaked this out. Good side–the girls are young and they remained gritty. They withstood the onslaught of a top ten team that has beaten some very good teams. IF these girls stay focused and realize that EVERY possession counts, that you have to take care of the ball EACH time, they really might surprise us all and become the sleeper team of the year. I wish Coach Curry and the girls that destiny. I know that they all work so hard, and that Coach Curry has so much fire to win. Now, if she can just continue to instill that in these ladies. GREAT WIN, Ladies, and the best of luck for the remainder of the season. IF YOU BELIEVE (and execute) YOU CAN DO GREAT THINGS!
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Tech Fan 86 – one of the greatest coaches in Texas H.S. girls basketball (now retired and I won’t say who) once said “you give me the 10 prettiest girls in the high school, and I’ll win state with them”. That’s a direct quote. By the way, he won MANY state titles.
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I’m not sure which teams 86 has been watching, but Tech has some very lovely ladies playing for them.
Wreck ‘em!
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Womens basketball is great! You can just sit there. You don’t have to do anything. It’s fun for the elderly.
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Tech Fan 86, wow really….. Okay so you don’t like women’s basketball, we get it, but your tag is tech fan, we won act like it. Why try to put us down? If you do not like the sport don’t watch it, and don’t read or comment about it. Oh…, but you are trying to be sarcastic and funny… not working, and trying to get under the skin of your fellow Raider fans, not cool, and very little of you. Anyway, great job girls, Guns Up and horns down!
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I agree with x806x! Come on Tech Fan 86, give the Lady Raiders some credit. I have been critical of them this season for their play, but not for what they have represented for Texas Tech. The Lady Raiders brought national attention to this university years before our football team did. They were a perennial powerhouse with a raucous, enthusiastic, and loyal fan base. I am one of those fans. The heart, pride, and just toughness of so many of those Lady Raiders was just enormous. If I am critical it’s because I want them to be the elite team that I know they should be—that they are capable of….NOT because I am being ironic or denigrating. I am looking forward to their ascendancy back to a nationally elite team. WRECK’EM Lady Raiders. We love you.
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