The Texas Tech Lady Raiders gave a up a season-high 23 offensive rebounds in a 79-57 loss to West Virginia, at WVU Coliseum, on Saturday night, in Morgantown, W. Va.
Tech (9-6, 0-4), even with a season-high 25 offensive rebounds, lost the rebounding battle 49-44 and struggled from the field for the second-straight game, shooting just 23-72 (.319). The Lady Raiders are now 0-6 when being outrebounded and 0-4 when shooting under 40% this season.
“West Virginia is a tough team,” Texas Tech head coach Candi Whitaker said. “We did not shoot the ball very well. They had a lot to do with that, but a lot of it was on us as well. When you shoot 31.9 percent, it is difficult to win Big 12 games. You have to give credit to West Virginia–they are a good team. It was a tough night for us.”
The first quarter was a seesaw battle, and Tech was led by six points from Japreece Dean. Although Tech had multiple leads early on, WVU (14-3, 3-1) got a short jumper to fall at the buzzer to take a 21-17 lead through the first frame.
WVU’s Tynice Martin scored the first five points of the second quarter to give WVU (14-3, 3-1) a 26-17 lead in the midst of a 4-20 shooting stretch for the Lady Raiders. West Virginia extended the lead to 32-19 from there, as for the second-straight game the Lady Raiders struggled to score in the second stanza. The Mountaineer lead remained at 13 going into the half, 36-23.
In the third quarter Tech was able to cut the deficit to 10 points, but that is as close as the Lady Raiders would get, as WVU went on a 10-0 run from there, capped by back-to-back three-pointers from Bria Holmes and Jessica Morton to give the Mountaineers a 47-27 lead.
Ivonne CookTaylor was the bright spot for the Lady Raiders, scoring a team-high 20 points, including a personal 10-0 run midway through the fourth quarter.
The Lady Raiders will now head to Fort Worth, Texas, to face TCU on Wednesday, Jan. 13. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT, and the game will be televised on FOX Sports Southwest Plus.
Visit www.TexasTech.com for the latest news and information on the women’s basketball program. Fans also can follow the program on its social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/LadyRaiderWBB and @LadyRaiderWBB on Twitter.
