Texas Tech University Athletics
WNIT Second Round Preview: Tulane at Texas Tech
March 17, 2012 | Women's Basketball
March 17, 2012
LUBBOCK, Texas -- It was a combination of things that helped Texas Tech get past Eastern Illinois on Thursday night in the first round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament.
But when head coach Kristy Curry challenged the Lady Raiders to crash the boards more and turn the game in their favor for good, it was Shauntal Nobles who stepped up in the lane.
Nobles scored her third double-double of the season with a career-high 18 points and 13 rebounds to help lead Tech to its 85-71 win over the Panthers.
That's a performance Nobles and Tech (20-13) will try to replicate on Sunday in the WNIT Second Round game against Tulane (23-10).
Nobles now holds a prominent spot in the starting lineup for 13 of the last 15 games this season. She's averaging 7.1 points and six rebounds per game over that same span, and has scored in double figures five times.
"It just shows how hard she plays and how much effort she gives," Curry said. "With great energy and great effort - great things can happen. She has that power post presence with her now and she's getting two feet in the paint. She's really improved her free throws as well."
That she has. Nobles is shooting 72.2 percent (26 of 36) in the last five games for Tech, helping the Lady Raiders go 3-2 in that span. She was shooting only 53 percent from the line up until that point.
In fact, the Lady Raiders as a whole have improved from the free throw line. Tech has made 50 of 62 free throws (80 percent) in the last three games, including an 88-percent performance (22 of 25) against Texas in the first round of the Big 12 Championship.
"We just continue to work on them but at the same time try not to make too much of it," Curry said. "You don't become a good free-throw shooter from practice time. It takes a little time beyond that. Just continuing to be consistent and repetitious every time we step up to the line."
Tech will definitely need to step up in the paint on Sunday in trying to stop senior forward Brett Benzio. She averages 9.6 points and 9.2 rebounds per game for the Green Wave and is complemented by the outside shooting and guard play of junior Olivia Grayson.
Grayson, an All-Conference USA First Team selection, has five, 20-point games this season and leads the team in points (464), points per game (14.1), assists (116), steals (75), field goals (156) and free-throw percentage (81.9 percent).
Curry said stopping Grayson and others in transition defense is a big key if Tech wants to win on Sunday and continue its quest for a WNIT championship.
"They're very good in transition," Curry said. "They've got a very athletic group with (Tyria) Snow and Grayson and a great shooter in (Danielle) Blagg. ... It just makes us better, as a program, to have the opportunity to play against someone like Tulane."
JUNIOR LEADERSHIP
Texas Tech head coach Kristy Curry wants to know who it will be from her large junior class to step up after seniors Jordan Barncastle and Kierra Mallad play their final game this spring. While some look to the consistency of point guard Monique Smalls to be the true quarterback, Curry said she hopes all of them will step up in some way.
"I think we just keep looking for our leadership to grow," Curry said. "Our junior class really has to work on that - Mo(nique Smalls), Casey (Morris) and Chynna (Brown). We really have to improve our leadership."
From an on-court performance, that player might be Casey Morris. Morris has scored in double figures seven times in the last 13 games and 16 times overall this season. She's averaging 14.3 points per game in the last five games, hitting 11 of her 30 shots from 3-point land.
A SPECIAL OPPONENT IN TULANE
Tulane University has many ties to West Texas. A special one was when the women's basketball and men's baseball staffs and student-athletes called Lubbock their home for nearly a year after Katrina tore through Louisiana and forced the university to find other places for its student to continue school.
And its particularly a special place for head coach Kristy Curry, who received her start at Tulane back in 1991 as an assistant coach. Curry stayed there for two seasons as an assistant.
This will be the sixth time Curry has played against the Green Wave and third with Tech. The Lady Raiders won 77-50 in Lubbock during Curry's first season in 2006 and lost 67-49 in the 2009 DoubleTree Classic in New Orleans.
"It just holds a very special place in my heart," said Curry, who is 3-2 against Tulane. "They gave me my first opportunity in my home state and it was absolutely an incredible experience. I was 23, 24 years old. ... I will always remember that because I learned so much."
