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Sanogo has career night against Houston Christian
November 07, 2024 | Women's Basketball
LUBBOCK, Texas – Newcomer Sarengbe Sanogo had career highs in seven categories to help the Texas Tech Lady Raiders defeat the Houston Christian Huskies, 63-40, on Thursday night at the United Supermarkets Arena.
For Tech (2-0), Sanogo posted a career-high in points (12), rebounds (5) and blocks (3) while adding an assist and 4-for-10 shooting from the field. Junior Jasmine Shavers led the team in points with 17 on 50 percent shooting (7-for-14) and had four boards. Junior Bailey Maupin also recorded double-digit points with 10 on 4-for-8 shooting. As a team, the Lady Raiders shot 39.3 percent from the field with 10 steals, seven blocks and 10 assists. Tech held the Huskies to 33 percent from the field and forced 28 Houston Christian turnovers.
Houston Christian (0-2) made the first basket of the game with a layup to lead 2-0, but that would be the only lead they held in the entire game. Shavers would answer with a jumper of her own while getting fouled on the play, converting the and-one opportunity. A minute later, Maupin was able to make a bucket after a Huskie turnover. Both Shavers and Maupin kept at it – giving the Lady Raiders a 12-4 lead with 3:52 left in the period. Then, Jalynn Bristow and Kilah Freelon got in on the scoring action as they both made back-to-back layups for Tech. Houston Christian got a layup with 25 seconds left with Tech leading 16-10.
In quarter two, both teams were off to a slow start as no team scored until the 8:31 mark when the Huskies made a layup. Sanogo followed this with a block, then a fastbreak layup to make it 18-12. The Huskies hit a 3-pointer, but Sanogo made a layup and two free throws and Denae Fritz nailed a three in response for the 25-15 advantage. Houston Christian went on a 4-0 run before Maupin made a 3-pointer. The two teams battled until the end of the quarter as Tech held the 29-22 lead.
Houston Christian began the third period by scoring the first six points. Tech responded with a 6-0 run of its own, started by Sanogo with a layup, then a steal from Bristow that led to a Maupin fastbreak, and finally a Bristow basket that forced a Huskie timeout and gave the Lady Raiders a 35-28 advantage. The Lady Raiders would continue to score out of the timeout – getting another five points from Bristow, Freelon and Loghan Johnson combined. Houston Christian didn't make another field goal until 3:13 was left in the period. Then, Shavers went on a little run herself as she scored seven points for Tech in a minute and a half of play. Sanogo added another block and two free throws to close out the quarter with a 49-33 lead.
Once again, the Huskies started the scoring in the final quarter, but Tech scored the next five points thanks to a layup from Sanogo and a 3-pointer by Wynn. Both teams went on a scoring drought before Fritz nailed two free throws to increase the lead to 56-35. Houston Christian answered with a three, but that would be the only field goal scored for them in almost four minutes of play, while Tech added five more points to its lead. Shavers would get a second-chance layup after grabbing an offensive board, then Jordyn Merritt blocked a last-second shot attempt from the Huskies as Tech won the game, 63-40.
Up next, Texas Tech will host New Mexico on Tuesday, Nov. 12 at 6 p.m. at the United Supermarkets Arena.
Quoteables
Head Coach Krista Gerlich
Opening statement…
"Game two, it was not the prettiest again, but I am proud of the girls for cleaning up the turnovers. The first quarter was not great at all. I did feel like we defended pretty well the whole night. We did get beat one on one, and some off the bounce that I didn't like. But when you're holding teams in the 30s and 40s, I think that's a pretty good defensive night. We've just have to get our offense going a little bit more. We have to play at a better pace and get more early paint touches and have people just sharing the basketball a little bit better. But overall, I think we stretched it in the second half the way we needed to and I thought that Sara [Sanogo] had a really good game, and she needed to be able to have some success because we definitely need a post presence. So overall, I mean, we're not going to complain about being 2-0 for sure, and we'll continue to battle and work and just get better every day."
On her message in the early timeout in the third quarter…
"I just tried to challenge them a little bit. You know, that's not how we want to start the third quarter. That's not how we want to start a half. We can't give up leads. We have to build on them. We talk all the time about the first three minutes of every quarter, to be honest… We just talked about doing what we're taught to do, doing the little things. I didn't feel like we were guarding one on one very well. We were getting beat off the dribble in some situations where I felt like we could control it ourselves and not have to ask for help. We weren't blocking out. We weren't executing our offense. We started the half off with two turnovers, and that just cannot happen. So just trying to get their attention a little bit and trying to get them back to focused. I thought they responded really well and they gave us some good energy coming out of that time out."
#3 Junior Guard Jasmine Shavers
On her 17 points in the game…
"Scoring is good, it really takes all five of us on the court, all 15 of us to really buy in and get this win. I don't want to say that just my scoring, you know, helped the team get this win. I think it was all of us who really dominated. Sara [Sanogo] did a great job offensively and on the boards. Yeah I had 17 points, but I also had two turnovers and that's one thing I'm looking at for myself. My 17 points contributed but it was all the players, coaches, and staff that bought into this game and into this win and we're 2-0."
#11 Junior Forward Sarengbe Sanogo
On her confidence with her team…
"I feel more confident because I know if I have the ball and I can't make a play, I know my teammates can. I just have to get them the ball and they can do something else, so I am happy to have them on my team."
