LADY RAIDER PREVIEW: at Iowa State

LUBBOCK, Texas – The Texas Tech Lady Raider basketball team heads back out on the road looking to build on Wednesday's big win when it travels to Ames to close out the season series against Iowa State. The Lady Raiders and Cyclones tip at 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon at Hilton Coliseum on ESPN+.

GAME INFORMATION
Venue: Hilton Coliseum
Place: Ames, Iowa
Opponent: Iowa State
Date: Saturday, Feb. 6
Tip-off Time: 2 p.m.
TV: Big 12 Now on ESPN+
TV Talent: Brent Blum and Molly Parrott
Radio: 107.7 FM
Radio Talent: Mark Finkner and Chuck Heinz

LADY RAIDER QUICK HITS
- With 28 points and 10 assists in the Lady Raider win over Kansas State, Vivian Gray not only set a career high in assists, but also became the first Big 12 player this season to record 25-plus points and 10-plus assists in a single game.

- Freshman post Khadija Faye had a breakout game in the Lady Raiders' win over Kansas State, recording 20 points and 14 rebounds--both career highs. Faye is second on the team at 1.2 blocks per game--an average that would rank seventh in the Big 12 if she had enough games under her belt.

- Junior sharpshooter Naje Murray posted one of the best shooting nights of her season on Wednesday, hitting five of seven three-point attempts to finish with 15 points on the night. Murray has been impressive in Big 12 play, hitting 19-of-46 three-point attempts to average 41.3 percent from behind the arc

- Texas Tech Lady Raider basketball senior Vivian Gray is one of 10 small forwards from around the country to be named a top-10 finalist for the Cheryl Miller Award, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women's Basketball Coaches Association announced Wednesday. It marks Gray's second-straight year making the award's midseason top-10 list, as she was named a top-10 finalist a season ago on the way to earning honorable mention All-America honors and First Team All-Big 12 recognition for the second-consecutive season at Oklahoma State as a junior.

- With 12 points on Saturday at Texas, Vivian Gray became one of 20 active DI players to register 1,500 career points. Perhaps more impressively, Gray did so in only 77 games. Gray is No. 20 on the active career scoring charts and one of only two players --and the only Power Five player--in the top 20 with 1,500 to have played less than 100 games. At 19.6 points per game for her career, Gray ranks No. 2 on the active career scoring list for scoring average. Gray played her freshman season at Division II Fort Lewis College, where she scored 443 points. Those numbers don't count toward her DI career total, but combined the Argyle, Texas, product has scored 1,972 points over the course of her collegiate career and is nearing 2,000.

THE SERIES
- The Lady Raiders and Cyclones will be meeting for the 40th time in the series between the two programs.
- Tech is 15-24 all-time against Iowa State, and 2-14 against the Cyclones in Ames.
- Tech did capture the last road game in the series, however, knocking off Iowa State, 77-74, in Hilton Coliseum a season ago for the program's first win in Ames in 18 years.
- Iowa State used a hot start to defeat the Lady Raiders in the first meeting of this season, winning 99-72 in Lubbock.

ABOUT THE CYCLONES
The Iowa State Cyclones (11-7, 7-4 Big 12) enter Saturday's clash with the Lady Raiders on a two-game skid with losses at the hands of two of the Big 12's top teams in Baylor and West Virginia. The Cyclones are led by Ashley Joens, who ranks eighth nationally and leads the Big 12 in scoring at 24.1 points per game while also averaging 8.9 boards per game to rank fifth in the conference. Joens heads up a talented rotation which also includes freshmen guards Emily Ryan and Lexi Donarski, for 26th-year head coach Bill Fennelly. As a team, Iowa State is one of the top three-point shooting teams in the nation, hitting 9.7 per game to rank seventh nationally and lead the Big 12.

LAST TIME OUT
Senior Vivian Gray was her All-American self in a 28-point, six-rebound, 10-assist performance—also adding a steal and a pair of blocks. The Lady Raiders also got a breakout game from freshman post Khadija Faye.

Matched up against one of the best post players in the conference in Kansas State's Ayoka Lee, Faye was undeterred, going for career highs of 20 points and 14 rebounds on 9-of-12 shooting, while also blocking a couple of shots, swiping a steal and dishing off a pair of assists.

Gray and Faye were two of the Lady Raiders' four double-digit scorers as Najé Murray hit a season-high five threes, including a number of triples in big moments which kept the Lady Raiders afloat while Kansas State was trying to create separation. Senior Maka Jackson had 10 points and seven rebounds in the win, along with a steal.

Bryn Gerlich had six assists on the night, along with three rebounds, four points and a decisive steal in the closing seconds of regulation.

Texas Tech University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Khadija Faye

Bryn Gerlich

Vivian Gray

Maka Jackson

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