Texas Tech University Athletics
Lady Raiders Square Off Against Top Ranked Longhorns
February 20, 2004 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 20, 2004
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#9/9 TEXAS TECH LADY RAIDERS (22-4/8-4 BIG 12)
VS. #1/2 TEXAS LONGHORNS (23-2/11-2 BIG 12)
February 22, 2004
Lubbock, Texas * 1 p.m.
Television - ESPN2
United Spirit Arena (15,050)
SUNDAY'S GAME
No. 9/9 Texas Tech (22-4/8-4) hosts No. 1/2 Texas (23-2/11-1) on Sunday, Feb. 22 at 1 p.m. at the United Spirit Arena. The game will be televised on ESPN2 with Pam Ward and Nancy Lieberman calling the game. The game can be heard on the All Sports Radio Network with play-by-play by Ryan Hyatt and Crystal Boles as the color analyst.
THE LADY RAIDERS
Texas Tech is 22-4 and 8-4 in the Big 12 after winning at Missouri, 73-68, last Tuesday. On the year, freshman Alesha Robertson leads the team in scoring with a 12.5 average followed by sophomore Erin Grant at 7.8. Senior Casey Jackson is the top rebounder, grabbing 6.2 boards per outing and sophomore LaToya Davis is averaging 5.4 rebounds a game. Davis is shooting 62 percent from the field, while sophomore Jametra Clark is shooting 51.2 percent. Robertson is shooting 42.5 percent from the three-point arc, while Ritchie is shooting 36 percent from three-point range. Sophomore Erin Grant has team highs of 176 assists and 35 steals. Clark is the top shot blocker with 18 blocks as junior Cisti Greenwalt led the team with 57 blocks before suffering a season-ending injury. The Lady Raiders are shooting 45.3 percent from the field, 37 percent from three-point range and 71.5 percent from the free throw line. Scouting the Opponent
Texas enters the game with a 23-2 overall record and 11-1 in the Big 12 after beating Colorado, 51-45, Feb. 14 in Boulder. In that game, senior Stacy Stephens led Texas with 13 points, 11 rebounds and five steals, while freshman Tiffany Jackson added 10 points and 11 rebounds. Junior Heather Schreiber grabbed 10 boards.
On the year, Schreiber paces the Longhorns in scoring with a 13.2 average followed by Jackson at 12.7, Stephens at 12.0 and senior Jamie Carey at 11.0. Jackson is the top rebounder as she is averaging 8.0 boards per contest. Sophomore Nina Norman leads the team in assists with 105. Jackson has team highs of 49 steals and 29 blocks. Texas is shooting 47.2 percent from the field, 37.2 percent from three-point range and 72.7 percent from the free throw line.
Jody Conradt is in her 28th year at the helm of the Longhorns establishing a record of 723-204. She is also in her 35th year as a head coach with a career record of 840-266.
SERIES RECORD
It is the 70th meeting between Texas Tech and Texas with the Longhorns holding a 51-18 advantage. The Longhorns won the first game this season, 82-73, Feb. 1 in Austin. Texas has won four-straight games against the Lady Raiders. The last time Tech was victorious was in a 61-49 win in Lubbock Feb. 6, 2002. The Lady Raiders are 9-17 against Texas in Lubbock.
LAST TIME VS. TEXAS
Feb. 1, 2004 - Senior center Stacy Stephens scored 28 points and had 12 rebounds to send No. 3 Texas to an 82-73 win over the Lady Raiders.
Freshman forward Tiffany Jackson scored 19 points.
Stephens controlled the game late with an unstoppable spin move in the lane and soft shooting touch. She scored 10 points over the final eight minutes after her free throw gave Texas a 58-56 lead.
Texas shot 55 percent from the floor compared to 43 percent for Tech.
The teams were tied or traded the lead 18 times in the first half. Tech held its biggest lead of the half at 25-21 before Nina Norman and Heather Schreiber tied it with consecutive layups.
Schreiber's 3-pointer gave the Longhorns a 30-29 lead. Texas stretched the lead to 36-31 as Jackson, who had 11 points in the first half, twice drove the baseline for baskets.
Tech's Erin Grant countered with a pair of driving layups in the lane that got the Lady Raiders to 38-35 at halftime.
Texas led 48-41 in the second before Tech rallied to go up 56-55 on Cisti Greenwalt's bank shot.
Stephens' free throw and layup started a 10-4 run that built a 68-60 lead with 3:41 left, and her putback off a miss made it 74-64. Jamie Carey's 3-pointer gave Texas a 77-66 lead with 1:18 left.
Alesha Robertson scored 15 to lead Tech.
LAST TIME OUT
(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.
Texas Tech 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.
Tech then got a break when Missouri's MyEsha Perkins was called for an illegal screen with 3 seconds left. Missouri 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.
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.
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. 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.
A LOOK AHEAD
Texas Tech will play at Oklahoma Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. and will return to Lubbock for its final home game of the season Feb. 28 against Colorado at 7 p.m. Tech will conclude the regular season at Kansas State March 3 at 7 p.m. All three games will be televised on the Red Raider Sports Network, which airs locally on UPN Lubbock.
LADY RAIDER HEAD COACH Marsha Sharp
One of the most respected and well-known coaches in Texas Tech history, Hall of Fame head coach Marsha Sharp is 530-163 in her 22nd year at the helm of the Lady Raiders. She has led the Lady Raiders to 16 NCAA Tournament appearances, including 14 consecutive, and 10 NCAA Sweet 16 and four Elite Eight appearances and the NCAA National Championship in 1993. Sharp led the Lady Raiders to three-straight Big 12 Conference regular-season titles (1998-2000) and two tournament crowns (1998, 1999). While in the SWC, coach Sharp and the Lady Raiders never finished below third, they won or shared the last five championships, and they captured three Post-Season Classic titles. A 1974 graduate of Wayland Baptist University, Sharp was named the National Coach of the Year in 1993 and 1994. She also reaped SWC Coach of the Year honors seven times, five consecutively. In May 2003, she was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.
FIRST TO NO. 1
Texas Tech became the first Big 12 school to be ranked No. 1 in the country since the inception of the league in 1996-97. The Lady Raiders topped the USA Today/ESPN/WBCA Coaches' Poll on Jan. 6. It marks the first time the Lady Raiders have been ranked No. 1 during the regular season and only their second ever as they were first in the final coaches poll after winning the National Championship in 1993.
NCAA STATS
As of games through Feb. 16, Texas Tech ranks fifth in rebound margin at 9.5, eighth in scoring defense at 54.5, eighth in scoring margin at 20.3, 10th in field goal percentage defense at 35.4, 10th in turnovers per game at 13.9, 12th in won-lost percentage at 84.0, 13th in blocked shots per game at 5.4, 18th in scoring offense at 74.8, 22nd in assists per game at 17.2, 25th in field goal percentage at 45.2 and 30th in personal fouls per game at 15.2, among all NCAA Division I teams. Sophomore Erin Grant ranks eighth in assists per game at 6.8 and junior Cisti Greenwalt is 26th in blocked shots per game at 2.2, among all NCAA Division I players.
GREENWALT FRACTURES ANKLE, OUT FOR SEASON
Junior Cisti Greenwalt fractured her right ankle in the game at Missouri Feb. 17. The ankle was surgically repaired and she will be out the remainder of the season.
BEST START IN SCHOOL HISTORY
Texas Tech started the season 15-0, before losing at Iowa State, which was the best start in school history. The previous best start was when the Lady Raiders went 10-0 in 1999-2000 before falling at Iowa State, 62-37, Jan. 2, 2000.
GRANT NOMINEE FOR LIEBERMAN AWARD
Sophomore Erin Grant has been named one of the 12 nominees for the Nancy Lieberman Award, which is presented annually to the nation's top point guard. A list of the nation's top 10 point guards will be determined in the coming weeks.
WINNING PERCENTAGE BY CLASS
The senior class has a record of 96-29 (.768) overall and 42-18 (.700) in Big 12 regular-season play. The junior class, which consists of just one player - Cisti Greenwalt is 71-22 (.763) and 29-15 (.659) in the league. The sophomores post a 51-10 (.836) mark and 21-7 (.750) in the conference. The freshmen are 22-4 (.846) and 8-4 (.667) in Big 12 play this season.
LOOKING FOR ANOTHER BANNER
Since the 1997-98 season, the Lady Raiders have hung at least one Big 12 Conference championship banner and/or an NCAA Sweet 16 or Elite Eight from the rafters each year. During that time, Tech has seen two NCAA Elite Eight banners, three NCAA Sweet 16 banners, three Big 12 regular-season champion banners, two Big 12 Tournament champion banners and a 2003 Marsha Sharp Women's Basketball Hall of Fame banner.
LADY RAIDERS WIN THIRD TITLE
Texas Tech won its third tournament title of the season when it captured the Surf 'N Slam San Diego Hoop Classic on Dec. 30. The Lady Raiders also won the Preseason WNIT and the SMU Hoops for the Cure Tournament.
TECH VS. THE TOP 25
Texas Tech is 6-2 this year against teams ranked in the top 25. The Lady Raiders beat No. 18/18 UC Santa Barbara, No. 15/15 Rutgers, No. 24 Washington, No. 7/7 Stanford, No. 24 Baylor (Jan. 17) and No. 17/17 Baylor (Feb. 8). Tech's two losses were at No. 3/4 Texas and vs. No. 24 Oklahoma.
LARGEST MARGIN OF VICTORY IN ALMOST 18 YEARS
Texas Tech defeated Oklahoma State (1/10), 106-43, a margin of 63 points, which was the largest margin of victory of the season and it's biggest since beating Hawaii Pacific, 114-48, Dec. 7, 1985.
ONE POINT LOSSES
Texas Tech's 64-63 loss at Iowa State and 88-87 (2OT) loss at Oklahoma State were just the third and fourth times Tech has lost by just one point in the Marsha Sharp era. The last time the Lady Raiders lost by one point was in a 66-65 defeat to Texas Jan. 22, 1994. The only other one-point loss was a 66-65 loss to New Orleans in the National Women's Invitational March 24, 1982, Sharp's first year as head coach.
ANOTHER 20-WIN SEASON
Texas Tech is 22-4, marking its 15th-straight 20-win season and Marsha Sharp's 19th in her 22 years as head coach. It is also the 22nd 20-win season overall for the Lady Raiders.
GREENWALT BREAKS BLOCK RECORD
Junior Cisti Greenwalt became Texas Tech's career record holder in blocks with 195. She passed Crystal Boles (1994-98) who finished her career with 191.
DAVIS MAKES IMPACT
Sophomore LaToya Davis has scored in double figures in four of the last five games for the Lady Raiders. Davis has averaged 11.4 points in the last five contests compared to 5.4 points she averaged in the five games prior to that. She has also averaged 7.4 rebounds in the last five games.
DABBS MATCHES CAREER HIGH IN POINTS
Sophomore Chesley Dabbs tied her career-high 18 points and had a career-high three blocks at Texas A&M. Dabbs also scored 18 points earlier this season against Pacific and has scored in double figures in six games this year.
TWO DOUBLE-DOUBLE AGAINST AGGIES
Junior Cisti Greenwalt and sophomore LaToya Davis both recorded double-doubles at Texas A&M. Greenwalt had her fourth double-double of the season with 12 points and a season-high 12 rebounds. Davis finished with 13 points and a season-high 11 boards for her second double-double of the year.
50 PERCENT OR BETTER
Texas Tech shot 52.2 percent from the field at Texas A&M and 50 percent at Missouri, marking the eighth and ninth times this season the Lady Raiders have shot 50 percent or better this year.
JUST LIKE THE ENERGIZER BUNNY
Sophomore Erin Grant keeps on going and going as she scored a career-high 27 points in Tech's win over Kansas. She also had career highs of two three-pointers and five steals against the Jayhawks. Grant has scored in double figures in six games this season. At Baylor, Grant dished out 11 assists. Against Oklahoma, she scored 20 points marking the second time this season of 20 or more points. At Texas A&M Grant dished out 10 assists, which marked the fourth time this season she has had 10 or more assists in a game and the 11th time in her career.
DABBS ON THE BOARDS
Sophomore Chesley Dabbs grabbed a career-high seven rebounds at Baylor. Her previous career high was six on two occasions.
STICK 'EM UP
Texas Tech stole a season-high 16 steals versus Kansas. The previous season high was 15 at Oklahoma State Jan. 24.
GRANT TO SIXTH
Sophomore Erin Grant moved to sixth on Tech's career list for assists with 404 and needs six assists to tie Noel Johnson (1991-95) for fifth with 410.
YOUNG GUNS
In the win over Baylor (1/17), the Lady Raiders were led by three sophomores (Dabbs, Davis, Grant) and one freshman (Robertson), who all scored in double figures and combined for 51 of Tech's 64 points on the night.
LOW PERCENT FROM FIELD
Texas Tech shot a season-low 26.2 percent from the field in the victory over Baylor (1/17). Tech was 17-of-65 on the night.
RITCHIE HAS CAREER DAY
Senior Natalie Ritchie scored a career-high 27 points against OSU (1/10). She hit a school record eight three-pointers. On the night she was 9-for-11 from the field, 8-for-10 from three-point range and 1-for-1 from the free throw line.
TEAM SETS THREE-POINT MARK
The Lady Raiders sank 14 three-pointers against OSU, which was a school record. Their previous record was 12 at Iowa State Jan. 19, 2002. Tech was 14-of-18 from three-point range for 77.8 percent.
GRANT DISHES OUT, TIES CAREER HIGH
Sophomore Erin Grant tied her career-high 14 assists against the Cowgirls (1/10).
PACKED HOUSE
Against Oklahoma State, Texas Tech had its fourth sellout crowd (15,050) since the United Spirit Arena opened in Nov. 1999. It was the first sell out of the season. Tech sold out last year against Texas on March 2.
100 POINTS, AGAIN
Texas Tech scored 106 points in its victory over Oklahoma State Jan. 10. It marked the second time this season Tech had scored at least 100 points. The Lady Raiders scored 100 against Pacific Dec. 8. The 2003-04 season is the first time Tech has scored 100-plus points more than once in the same season since the 1994-95 season. It is also the 10th season Tech has accomplishment that feat. During the 1992-93 season, Tech scored 100 or more points on six occasions, which is the most of any Lady Raider season.
NON-CONFERENCE POINT MARGIN
The Lady Raiders wrapped up non-conference play averaging 29.4 more points than their opponents.
TECH TIES FEWEST POINTS ALLOWED
Texas Tech held Wyoming to 26 points Dec. 6, which tied the school record for fewest points scored by an opponent. McMurry had scored 26 points on Feb. 24, 1978. Tech Holds SMU to Record-Low Shooting Percentage
Texas Tech held SMU to just 16.9 percent from the field, which set a school record for lowest shooting percentage by an opponent. The Mustangs hit just 11 of 65 shot attempts in the game. The previous school record was 17.6 percent (12-of-68) by Southwest Texas State on Jan. 1, 1993.
JOHNSON, FLOWERS TO REDSHIRT
Freshman Enrica Johnson had meniscus repair done to her right knee on Dec. 17 and will redshirt this season. She joins freshman Tawanna Flowers who is redshirting after suffering a navicular fracture in her right foot during her senior season and is currently rehabbing the injury.
ON THE TUBE
The Lady Raiders will make six national or regional television appearances in regular-season play this season. Texas Tech will appear on ESPN2 once and Fox Sports Net four times. On Fox Sports Net, Tech played Stanford (Dec. 21), Baylor (Jan. 17), at Texas (Feb. 1) and at Baylor (Feb. 8). Tech played at Washington (Dec. 19) on Fox Sports Northwest/Southwest. On Feb. 22, the Lady Raiders will play Texas on ESPN2. Tech will also have 11 games broadcasted on the local Red Raider Sports Network.
GRANT AMONG THE BEST AT HER POSITION
Sophomore Erin Grant was named one of the top five point guards in the country by ESPN.com. Along with Grant, Jamie Carey (Texas), Temeka Johnson (LSU), Cappie Pondexter (Rutgers) and Erika Valek (Purdue) made up the top five selections.
LADY RAIDERS IN THE POLL
Since January 20, 1992, the Lady Raiders have been ranked in the Top 25 in the Associated Press and/or the USA Today poll a total of 227 weeks. That includes the Feb. 16 poll in which Tech is ranked ninth in the Associated Press top 25 poll and ninth in the USA Today/ESPN/WBCA Coaches poll.
LADY BASKETBALL WITH Marsha Sharp
Lady Raider Basketball with Marsha Sharp is televised every Sunday. The show airs on Fox 34 at 9:30 p.m. The show also airs on UPN Lubbock at 10:30 p.m.
THE Marsha Sharp RADIO SHOW
The Marsha Sharp Radio Show is held each Monday from 6-7 p.m. at the United Spirit Arena in the City Bank conference rooms located on the south end concourse. The show will air on KFYO-AM 790 and KKCL-FM 98.1 locally.
