Lady Raiders Fall Short to Oklahoma in First Big 12 Game of the Season

The Lady Raiders started their Big 12 conference run this past week against the Sooners. Due to health and safety protocols, the Lady Raiders were unable to play in their last non-conference game against UIW on December 29.

Even though the Lady Raiders fell short to the Sooners 97-91, there were still many highlights throughout the night.

Forward Taylah Thomas had a career-best of 25 points and nine rebounds, scoring 12 of those points just in the fourth quarter of play.

All-American Guard Vivian Gray also had a big night. She scored 21 points, 12 of those in the fourth quarter, making it her 49th 20-point game in her basketball career.

Bre’Amber Scott started things off for the Lady Raiders, being the first player for Texas Tech on the board with a deep three.

Scott had her first start for the Lady Raiders and scored 10 points during her 18 minutes on the court. Due to foul trouble, she had to be brought to the bench.

The Lady Raiders trailed the Sooners the entire game, except when Thomas gave the Lady Raiders a one-point lead over the Sooners.

The Sooners opened the half on a 15-2 run, which forced the Lady Raiders to call a timeout.

Make no mistakes, the Lady Raiders are talented and electric on the court. With only 56 seconds to go in the game, the Lady Raiders closed the lead to just five.

In the games coming up, they need to be able to break those long runs. That has seemed to be a common issue throughout the past few games for the Lady Raiders. Defense is the only place the Lady Raiders need to see improvement right now, in my opinion. Other than the long runs on defense, we have seen most of the players show out on offense.

The Lady Raiders face #9 Texas tonight at 7 p.m. in Austin.