by LUBBOCK, Texas — The Texas Tech Lady Raiders played to a deadlock early, but eventually blew past Eastern New Mexico, 77-43, in their exhibition game at the United Supermarkets Arena, on Saturday.
The Lady Raiders and Greyhounds played to a 14-14 draw in the first quarter, before Tech outscored ENMU 19-9 in the second, 28-13 in the third and 16-7 in the fourth to pull away for good.
“I thought like most exhibitions it’s an opportunity to get things on film, see where you’re at, see how you perform on a gameday and learn from it,” Head coach Candi Whitaker said. That’s what we are going to do from this game.”
The bright spot from Tech’s slow start was Ivonne Cook Taylor, who hit four of her first five shots and carried the load early. She finished with 10 points.
The Lady Raiders went on a 12-4 run to start the second quarter and carried a 33-23 lead into the half. From there, Tech broke it open. The Lady Raiders nearly equaled their first half output in the third quarter alone, putting up a 28-spot compared to ENMU’s 13.
The third quarter run was sparked by three-point plays on consecutive possessions from Japreece Dean and Zuri Sanders, following a Rayven Brooks three-pointer. That put Tech up by 13, and the Lady Raiders never looked back.
Tech also put together an 8-0 run to finish the third quarter, capped off by six-straight points from Rayven Brooks, contributing to her team-high 18, which ballooned the Tech lead to 25, at 61-36.
In the second half, Tech held ENMU to just 24 percent shooting from the field and 20 points. The Lady Raiders also doubled up the Greyhounds in rebounds (50-25) and points in the paint (36-18).
In the fourth quarter, Paige Parliament came off the bench and hit three threes, giving her nine of Tech’s 34 bench points. Leashja Grant led the bench players with 13 points and eight rebounds. Zuri Sanders nearly had a double-double, registering nine points and 12 rebounds off the bench and Japreece Dean chipped in three points to go along with two assists and a steal, to round off the bench scoring.
Jamie Roe (Cherokee Nation) led the team with six assists, to go along with her four points and four rebounds.
The Lady Raiders will begin the 2015-16 regular season next Friday, Nov. 13, against Niagara at 11 a.m. at the United Supermarkets Arena. It will be Texas Tech’s annual Education Day celebration.
