BY TRAVIS CRAM l AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

Texas Tech coach Kristy Curry wanted to make a point to her team when she walked into the Lady Raiders’ first practice Monday after suffering a disappointing 62-56 loss Saturday to Nebraska.

“I showed them the current Big 12 standings,” she said. “And pretty much let them know that we’re not out of this thing, but the window of opportunity has narrowed significantly.”

That’s mainly because of tonight’s contest against No. 2 Oklahoma (22-2, 10-0 Big 12 Conference) whom Tech (14-10, 4-6) will face twice over the final six games before heading off to Oklahoma City for the Big 12 tournament.

The 7 p.m. contest today is also the Lady Raiders’ final home game until No. 21 Iowa State comes to town Feb. 28. Tech currently sits in seventh place in the standings, one game ahead of Saturday’s opponent, Oklahoma State, and one game behind the Cyclones.

Saturday’s loss was one that was a little difficult to swallow for Curry and especially Dominic Seals and Maria Moore.

Seals was taken out of the game for the final five minutes after putting up minimal numbers and Moore was limited to only three minutes after suffering a bone bruise on her left knee in the win over No. 14 Texas A&M a week ago.

Moore remains a game-time decision for tonight’s contest but was at practice on Monday.

Curry called Seals’ performance on Saturday “disappointing,” and the senior forward could only explain the 2-for-9 shooting performance as a “lack of focus.”

“I just let my team down and let my coaches down,” she said. “I just wasn’t there. The coaches and everyone else around me prepared me for the game but I just wasn’t there mentally. … It’s just like other bad games I’ve had. After New Mexico, Texas, I have to be more focused and play better defensively and not get down about the first few minutes.”

Seals’ play has often had a domino effect for Tech this season. In the best nine games when she posts a double-double, the Lady Raiders are 7-2 (3-1 in conference). When Seals scores 15 points or more Tech is 8-2 (3-2) and when she gets 14 points or less the Lady Raiders are 6-8 (1-4).

But her bad play was not everything that went wrong for Tech against Nebraska.

The Lady Raiders had 23 turnovers, their most since giving up 24 against No. 12 Texas and the third consecutive game they have had 20 turnovers or more. So not everything can be attributed to not having Moore.

The players and Curry said after going through film of the Nebraska game the focus needs to stay on the Sooners and how to stop the Paris sisters, Ashley and Courtney, and freshman phenom Whitney Hand.

The three players are averaging 38.9 points per game, 49 percent of the team’s scoring per game (79.5).

“I think we’ve got to watch everyone on that team, not just Hand or Courtney but everyone,” Murphree said. “Ashley lost 25 pounds and she’s gotten better so we’re just going to have to help out defensively when its needed and do our best to protect our home court. … If we have a ton of fans out again like against A&M then we’re stronger out there.”

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