Lady Raiders find way to win against Lady Panthers
The Lady Raiders started with a 9-0 run and stayed ahead behind Kierra Mallard’s 21 points and Ashlee Roberson’s 12 rebounds to beat Prairie View A&M 67-60 Sunday at the United Spirit Arena.
Mallard, a sophomore, racked up her 21 points on 10-of-17 shooting, and Roberson pitched in with eight of her 12 rebounds coming on the offensive glass.
The Lady Raiders (5-1) got off to a good start, leading 15-5 after the ten-minute mark in the first half, but the Lady Panthers fought back. Junior Dominique Smith caught fire, leading the Lady Panthers with 13 of her 23 points coming in the first half.
Texas Tech's Jordan Murphree drives against Prairie View A&M's Latara Darrett during their game Sunday at United Spirit Arena in Lubbock. (Zach Long/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)
Texas Tech's Tilmila Martin drives against Prairie View A&M's Candice Thomas during their game Sunday at United Spirit Arena in Lubbock. (Zach Long/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)
Texas Tech's Kierra Mallard is pressured by Prairie View A&M's Trinity Robinson(15) and Ciara Banks(2) during their game Sunday at United Spirit Arena in Lubbock. (Zach Long/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)
Prairie View A&M (2-3) trimmed the Lady Raider lead to 29-26 at halftime.
“We looked a little sluggish at times, looked like we were stuck in the mud, but we found a way to win,” said head coach Kristy Curry. “That speaks volumes about our character. We will take an ugly win.”
Tech came out in the second half and put together another huge run, ballooning its lead up to 17 at one point.
But the Lady Panthers never faltered, chipping into the lead late in the game, but running out of time.
“I thought we came out in the second half, and the first four minutes were the difference,” Curry said. “I am pleased with how we were able to finish out the weekend.”
The Lady Raiders finished the weekend 3-0 after beating San Francisco on Friday, and turning around to beat the University of Texas at Arlington on Saturday.
“We were able to get better this weekend,” Curry said. “We will continue to grow and get ready for Wednesday night.”
This weekend was a good confidence builder for the Lady Raiders, but the “ulgy win,” as Curry referred to it as, was lifted by one bright spot.
Mallard.
Beyond her 21 points, Mallard brought down six rebounds, and got her hands in a few passing lanes, coming up with three steals. Mallard had a rough day otherwise, however, being double-teamed by Lady Panthers all day, and getting a technical foul after tussling with a Lady Panther after a play.
She later fouled out, but Curry had confidence in her young center.
“She’s been fighting a bad back,” Curry said. “When she is feeling better she can be a big lift for us.”
On the season, Mallard is averaging just under 14 points per game, and leads the Lady Raiders with just under eight rebounds per game.
“Our team was smart enough to get her the ball,” said Curry, “and she was able to be successful.”
When the game was getting close, the Lady Raiders seemed to rely on the shoulders of Mallard, who welcomes the pressure.
“I just want to work hard for my team,” Mallard said, “I need to come out with energy so the team will respond. I want to be a better leader.”
Besides the offensive accolades, Tech played strong defense at times, leading to 17 points off 18 Lady Panther turnovers, and 12 fast-break points.
“We were trying to get at them, get them frustrated, and get easy baskets,” freshman Monique Smalls said. “We tried the same thing in the second half, and it worked.”
The Lady Raiders will try and carry the momentum from the weekend into Wednesday’s game when they host Texas State at the United Spirit Arena at 8 p.m.
To comment on this story:
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Since the USA is nearly empty, are they still playing these games as early season, closed session exhibitions? I thought they weren’t supposed to keep score or stats during these “practices”!
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Hey freddie, were you there? If you weren’t you have nothing to complain about. If more people would show up and cheer for the lady raiders instead of sitting at home and complaining that the arena looks empty, we would all be happier campers.
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Good win, against a well coached team,(Cynthia cooper) fyi she played with sheryl swoopes in houston in the wnba.
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I’m so sick of everyone complaining about the empyt arena! This program needs our support! These young kids have never gotten to play with large crowds and it’s time we show them we support WBB.
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Hey Knot, I WAS there!!
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Keep it rolling, Lady Raiders! Keep winning, and let’s get back to leading the nation in women’s attendance. It was just a few years ago that we averaged 12,000 at the Lady Raider games.
Wreck ‘em Tech!
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The reason why not as many people don’t come anymore is because marsha isn’t there and people aren’t familiar with coach Curry. Once she starts winning regularly people will come.
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Big 12 Teams:
Rank Strength of Schedule (RPI Rank in parentheses)
3. Kansas 2-3 (7)
5. Oklahoma State 4-2 (6)
9.Oklahoma 4-2 (9)
33. Texas 4-2 (33)
49. Missouri 3-2 (57)
66. K-State 2-3 (121)
89. Texas Tech 5-1 (36)
103. Texas A&M 3-0 (21)
144. Baylor 6-1 (56)
165. Iowa State 3-1 (91)
255. Nebraska 6-0 (71)
263. Colorado 4-1 (130)
Source: CollegeRPI.com.
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We will all come back and pay good money in hard economic times when (a) we have a well-coached team; (b) good talent and (c) a chance of winning. These past four years have been a black hole for women’s basketball…money pouring in and NOTHING in return. We have basically losing seasons in the Big 12. We’ve split with UT a few times, and OU, Baylor and even OSU have won here and at home. If Curry doesn’t turn this around soon, the twenty odd years Marsha Sharpe spent building this program will be nothing but history. Curry may be slowly rebuilding–she is certainly no dummy–but she had better get something going this year if she wants to stay at TTU. This crappy schedule with wins over no-name teams may be good for practice and team cohesion, but it is worlds apart from the elite sphere that Baylor, OU, and Texas will provide this year…and let’s not forget Texas A&M, OSU, and Iowa State.
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The Flying Queens just beat LCU so that means Texas Tech is at least the third best team on the South Plains.
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yeah but no one can understand that the loss to lcu was because of all the freshman and inexperience we had. Also we are missing a key player, shauntel nobles, she is out this year with an injury and she would have contributed a lot! Don’t give up yet!
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