Tremendous Growth Leads to Successful Turnaround for Lady Raiders

Lady Raider Basketball saw tremendous growth in Head Coach Marlene Stollings' first season in command.

Texas Tech doubled its win total from last season and surpassed its win total after just 10 games into the season. An 11-7 record inside United Supermarkets Arena was the best the Lady Raiders have had in two seasons.

With 14 wins to end her first season, Coach Marlene has best record by a first-year head coach at Tech since the 2006-07 season. She had the second best turnaround by a first-year head coach in the Power Five.

With an 8-2 record in the first 10 games, Coach Marlene recorded the best start by a Lady Raider head coach in their first season since the 1977-78 season when Head Coach Gay Benson started the season 8-2.

After defeating Kansas at home, Coach Marlene became the fastest first-year head coach to 10 wins since Hall of Fame Head Coach Marsha Sharp earned her 10th win after 14 games during the 1982-83 season.

RECORD BREAKERS
During the 31-game season, the Lady Raiders broke several school and Big 12 Conference records while holding onto a Top 20-30 ranking in several statistical categories.

The Lady Raiders' 104-84 win over Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship opener was the first-ever win over OU in the conference tournament. Tech's 104 points is the most ever in a game at the Big 12 Championship. The Lady Raiders shot a remarkable 59 percent from the field, the highest in a first round game and second-highest all-time in a Big 12 Women's Championship contest.

With 51 points in the first half, Texas Tech became the fourth Big 12 team to score 51+ points in a half. The Lady Raiders broke into the top 10 for most points in a half in a Big 12 Women's Championship game, tying for third all-time (all were first round games).

Junior forward Brittany Brewer led the team with a career-high 40 points and tallied 15 rebounds in the win, marking the most points scored by a player in a first round game and was the third-most points all-time in a game at the championship.

Her 16 made field goals tied a career high and marked the most-ever in a first round game at the Big 12 Women's Championship, and tied for the second-most all-time behind Baylor's Brittney Griner (19) in 2012.

The Lady Raiders snapped the eight-game losing streak with a dominant 90-78 win over Oklahoma State during Tech's annual Play4Kay Pink Game. The Lady Raiders scored 31 points in the final period, setting a new school record for most points in a fourth quarter.

The Lady Raiders scored a record-setting 27 points in the opening quarter off a school record seven three-pointers against the No. 12 Texas Longhorns.

Tech broke a couple quarter records in the 105-54 win over Abilene Christian. The Lady Raiders scored 33 points in the second quarter, the most in a second period, and had 10 assists in the 1st quarter, marking the most in school history.

Early in the season, Texas Tech traveled to Nevada where the Lady Raiders captured their first non-conference road win in six seasons. Freshman Chrislyn Carr wrote her name into the record books that afternoon as she scored a career high 35 points against the Wolf Pack, becoming the ninth Lady Raider to score 35+ points in a single game. She got on a roll from behind the three-point line and tallied nine three-pointers, tying the school record for most threes in a game. The rookie point guard also broke a 24-year-old school record when she recorded 21 three-point FG attempts.

Following her outstanding performance, Carr became the first Lady Raider in school history and the seventh Big 12 player to be named USBWA National Freshman of the Week.

A YEAR OF FIRSTS
Not only did the Lady Raiders set new records, they also had some success that hadn't been accomplished in many years at Texas Tech.

With her 40 points against OU, Brewer became the first Lady Raider to scored 40+ points in a game since the 2002-03 season and just the sixth player in school history to score 40+ points in a single game.

Texas Tech closed out the 2018-19 regular season against Oklahoma on Senior Night. The Lady Raiders defeated the Sooners, 88-82, earning the first win over OU in eight years. The win also marked the first time the Lady Raiders split the season series with Oklahoma since the 2010-11 season.

Texas Tech went into Allen Fieldhouse and completed the season series sweep with a 75-71 win over the Jayhawks. It was the first time Tech has swept an opponent in the Big 12 since the 2015-16 season. The win also marked the first time the Lady Raiders earned two road wins in a single season since the 2014-15 season.

The 90-78 win over Oklahoma State marked the first time the Lady Raiders have split the season series with a Big 12 opponent since last season when Tech split with Kansas.

The Lady Raiders earned their first Big 12 win of the season after taking down Kansas, 69-66, inside United Supermarkets Arena.

Before starting conference play, Texas Tech closed out the non-conference slate with an impressive 51-point win over Abilene Christian. It was the largest margin of victory since Dec. 18, 2016 when the Lady Raiders defeated Alcorn State by 53 points (90-37). It was also the first time the Lady Raiders have reached the century mark since the 2015-16 season.

The Lady Raiders opened the first half with a 63-point performance, the most points scored in a half in 13 years. Junior guard Eryka Sydney became the first Lady Raider to record 15+ assists in a single game since 1998 as she tallied 15 in the win over ACU.

Senior Zuri Sanders posted a career-high 20 rebounds in the win over Southern, becoming the first Lady Raider in 28 years to record 20+ rebounds in a single game. She also became just the ninth player in school history to have 20+ boards during a game.

INDIVIDUAL SUCCESS
The Lady Raiders also saw tremendous growth in individual successes.

Freshman Chrislyn Carr was named the 2019 Big 12 Freshman of the Year, becoming just the third Lady Raider in program history to win the award and the first since assistant coach Erin Grant was selected in 2003. The Davenport, Iowa, native was also named to the All-Big 12 Honorable Mention team, the only freshman named to an All-Big 12 team this season.

Carr was a five-time Big 12 Freshman of the Week, becoming the first Lady Raider rookie to win the award four or more times since the 2015-16 season.

Coach Stollings is the only current Big 12 coach to have back-to-back conference Freshman of the Year winners in two different conferences.

Carr was the top freshman nationally and the Big 12 in five categories this season including points per game (18.0), total points (558), FGs made (201), FG attempts (542) and 3-pt attempts (253).

Junior forward Brittany Brewer was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America First Team, becoming the first Lady Raider to ever be named to the first team and just the third player to earn an Academic All-America honor. Brewer was also named CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team for the second straight year and was named to the All-Big 12 Honorable Mention team.

The Abilene, Texas, native averaged 16.6 points per game and 9.1 rebounds per game this season while recording 14 double doubles.

Senior forward Zuri Sanders capped her collegiate career with her best season, averaging 10.4 rebounds per game, the fourth best in school history. She is the first Lady Raider to average 10+ rebounds per game since the 2005-06 season.

The Evansville, Ind., native recorded 313 total rebounds, ranking seventh in school history. Sanders is the first Lady Raiders to record 300+ rebounds since the 2005-06 season.

Texas Tech University Athletics

Tremendous Growth Leads to Successful Turnaround for Lady Raiders

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Brittany Brewer

Chrislyn Carr

Zuri Sanders

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