Texas Tech University Athletics
Texas Tech Athletics
Missouri
No. 9 Texas Tech Tames Tigers
February 17, 2004 | Women's Basketball
Feb 17, 2004
By CHUCK SCHOFFNER
AP Sports Writer
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - Erin Grant took a play designed for teammate Chesley Dabbs and made it her own.
Grant hit a driving shot with 11 seconds left to stop a Missouri comeback and help secure No. 9 Texas Tech's 73-68 victory over the Tigers on Tuesday night.
Texas Tech (22-4, 8-4 Big 12) led by 14 points with less than 12 minutes left, but was barely holding on at the end, leading 69-68 when coach Marsha Sharp called a timeout with 24 seconds remaining.
The first option was a pass to Dabbs, who led the Lady Raiders with 14 points, on a backdoor cut. But she was covered. So Grant, who had been dribbling near the top of the key, followed Dabbs to the basket from the right side and dropped in her shot for a 71-68 lead.
"If Erin ... couldn't throw it, then we were going to chase (Dabbs) with the ball and hope Erin could get to the rim and they both did a great job," Sharp said. "It worked and they were ready to go the other direction the moment it went in."
Tech then got a break when Missouri's MyEsha Perkins was called for an illegal screen with 3 seconds left. Missouri (13-10, 4-8) tried to foul immediately, but nothing was called until just a tenth of a second remained. Alesha Robertson made both free throws to finish it off.
"Good Lord, the game comes down to that," said a disgusted Evan Unrau, who led Missouri with 17 points and 10 rebounds. "You're playing hard. The last 5 minutes are intense and everyone's working so hard. At least give us a chance to do something."
Missouri did what it needed earlier by making defensive stops and clawing back when Tech appeared to be safely ahead. After taking a 68-59 lead on Casey Jackson's layup with 5:12 to play, Tech did not make another basket until Grant's shot at the end.
Unrau's two free throws with 1:24 left capped a 9-1 run that cut the lead to one. The Tigers had a chance to take the lead after Grant threw away an inbounds pass, but Perkins missed a jumper and Robertson rebounded for Tech, setting up Grant's improvised play.
It was Tech's fourth straight game decided by six points or fewer, three of them have been victories.
"It will help us in the long run," Grant said. "We're having to go through all these tough games right now, so I think we'll be prepared for them later on."
Dabbs, averaging just 5.4 points, gave Tech a big lift by going 7-for-12 from the field, mostly pull-up jumpers, and making four steals.
"She was hitting jumpers back and forth," Unrau said. "We didn't really have an answer for that."
Robertson scored 13 points, LaToya Davis had 12 and Grant finished with eight points, seven assists and seven rebounds. Stretch James added 15 points for Missouri.
Tech center Cisti Greenwalt injured her right ankle when she went down with 4:11 left in the first half and did not return. Sharp said she wasn't sure how seriously Greenwalt was hurt.
Texas Tech broke a tie at 35 by scoring the final six points of the first half. The Lady Raiders then started the second half with an 8-2 run to go up 49-37, and Dabbs' jumper made it 57-43 with 12:11 remaining.
"We executed well enough to win," Sharp said. "And I'll tell you, anytime you get a win on the road in the Big 12, you're proud of it and you run home as fast as you can."
