BY TRAVIS CRAM l AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

STILLWATER, Okla. — Texas Tech finally figured out Andrea Riley’s worst enemy — herself.

Tech (15-11, 5-7 Big 12) kept its cool in a very physical ending to a sloppy game Saturday at Gallagher-Iba Arena, beating Oklahoma State, 74-70.

Both teams shot under 39 percent and the Cowgirls went 0-for-18 behind the 3-point line, not hitting a trey for the first time since going 0 of 6 against Fresno State in 2006.

“By far it’s the biggest win we’ve had,” Tech head coach Kristy Curry said. “They all, at this point in the year, become the biggest one but it was huge. It was a must-win, our backs were against the wall and if we want to get to the NCAA Tournament, I think we knew what was on the line tonight.”

And the Tech players knew they had to find a way to get past Riley this time. She put up 33 against Tech in Lubbock and had 29 on Saturday. But frustration eventually took over and swung in favor of the Lady Raiders.

Riley shoved Maria Moore after Moore hit a breakaway layup to give Tech a 65-63 lead with 3:30 to go, drawing a technical foul for the Big 12 Conference’s highest scorer and giving Tech the lead for good.

The two teams traded leads six times and had seven ties in the final 10 minutes.

Dominic Seals had her best conference game this season, scoring 22 points and grabbing 13 rebounds for her 10th double-double. Jordan Murphree had 20 points and Moore added 11.

“We didn’t play with the same intensity that we did at Texas,” Oklahoma State head coach Kurt Budke said. “ … I think there’s no question when you’re 0-for-18, at some point in time frustration sets in. You hope you’re mature enough not to go that way at this point in the season. But they’re kids. They’re human and they’re going to make mistakes. We just needed someone to make one shot.”

The Cowgirls (15-10, 4-8) almost seemed to self-destruct in the final minutes. They made only 4 of 16 shots from the field in the final eight minutes as Tech was able to draw the fouls and dominate the paint with its bigger post players.

The Lady Raiders went to the foul line seven times in the final five minutes, hitting 8 of 14 free throws while outscoring OSU 11-5 in the final 4:42.

Tech hit 17 of 24 free throws in the second half.

Murphree was 10 of 14 from the charity stripe and hit two 3-pointers. She’s averaging 21 points per game over the last three contests.

“Jordan Murphree is playing as good as anybody right now” Riley said. “I think she’s playing well and stepped up big for her team.”

Tech’s fifth conference win surpasses its Big 12 total from last year (four) and puts them ahead of Oklahoma State in the standings at seventh place.

It was also the Lady Raiders’ first Big 12 South road win this season and third overall in conference play.

“We’ve worked so long and so hard to get to this point,” Curry said. “To see what they were like in that dressing room (Saturday) brought tears to my eyes.”

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