 "Photo: Riannon Rowley")
At the beginning of the Texas Tech-Sam Houston State season opener, it looked as if the Lady Raiders were headed for a repeat of their 71-65 loss to Lubbock Christian on Nov. 9.
However, Tech (1-0) and coach Kristy Curry made those memories history with a 91-52 victory over Sam Houston State on Saturday at the United Spirit Arena.
In the first official game of the season, Curry said execution was much improved after the lessons learned from the LCU exhibition loss.
“Something we didn’t do on Monday was convert and finish,” said Curry, who is 4-0 in season openers at Tech. “We were able to finish tonight in transition. We made better decisions two-on-one and three-on-two. We continue to work on decision making and also getting to the foul line and being able to convert, but we came out tonight more aggressive on both ends of the floor.”
Earlier in the week, Curry said the Lady Bearkats figured to give her team troubles with their athleticism but the Lady Raiders flipped the script.
Tech proved to be the more active and athletic team with 24 fast break points, 33 points off 26 Sam Houston State turnovers and 40 bench points.
The Lady Bearkats had Tech’s number early in the contest.
After a Tech timeout with 11:23 left in the first half, with the Lady Raiders down 8-14 — Sam Houston State’s largest lead of the game — Tech increased the tempo going on a 23-4 run to put them ahead for good.
Tech spread the wealth to tally its 91 points, as five Lady Raiders scored in double figures. Kierra Mallard’s 15 led the way for Tech, and Ashlee Roberson and Jordan Barncastle each chipped in 14. Jordan Murphree and Tilmila Martin also had 10 points each.
Roberson got off to a strong start in her first game of the season posting a double-double with 14 points on seven of eight shooting from the field, 11 rebounds and two blocks. The senior from San Antonio earned her fourth double-double of her career at Tech after spending a season at South Plains College.
Roberson said the past week in practice was key to the Lady Raiders’ success in stifling the up-tempo play of the Lady Bearkats.
“We focused more on communication this past week and getting to what we need to do,” Roberson said. “We focused more on switches and how Sam Houston can be out of control sometimes and how to slow that down, crashing the boards and doing our part.”
Sam Houston State (0-1) was led by Whitney Smith, who posted all her 14 points in the second half after two quick fouls in the first half allowed her only three minutes of floor time in the half.
With the Lady Raiders focused on the defensive end, the Lady Bearkats struggled from the field going one of 15 from behind the 3-point arc and shooting 34 percent from the field.
Sam Houston State coach Brenda Welch-Nichols said her team lost its composure but can learn a lot from the game before Southland Conference play begins.
“I’ve never seen my team throw the ball around like that,” she said. “We just totally got out of our game plan, and I’m not sure what we were thinking. We had it going on early, just mentally I think we got out of focus.”
The Lady Raiders forced 16 steals with Mallard, Chynna Brown and Monique Smalls each tallying three steals.
Tech looks to take the positive momentum from the win with Tennessee next on the schedule at 6 p.m. Tuesday in San Antonio.
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