Lady Raiders pound conference rival

LUBBOCK — A clock shot malfunction early in the game was about the only thing that went wrong Wednesday for the Texas Tech Lady Raiders.

In a battle of ranked teams, sophomore Alesha Robertson and Clovis’ Cisti Greenwalt led Tech to a convincing 79-62 win over preseason Big 12 favorite Texas.

Robertson not only scored 26 points, but her defensive play on pre-season Big 12 Player of the Year Heather Schreiber got Lady Raiders coach Marsha Sharp’s attention.

“As well as she played on the offensive end, she may have played even better defense,” Sharp said. Robertson held Schreiber to just four points.

No. 13 Tech (12-2) never trailed in the game as Greenwalt hit three of her first four shots before the shot clock went out with 17:02 remaining in the opening period.

The 6-foot-5 senior went right back to work after officials fixed the problem, knocking down two more points on a left-hand reverse move to the basket.

Tech took advantage of the Lady Longhorns’ foul trouble as sophomore post Tiffany Jackson sat for almost 10 minutes.

“Tech just kept breaking us down defensively,” Texas coach Jody Conradt said. “We may need to learn to play Tiffany on the floor with fouls.”

Conradt also was quick to recognize that the Lady Raiders were well prepared for the rivalry that always packs United Spirit Arena.

“Tech is probably more prepared to match up with us than they have been in a long time,” Conradt said. “I think Greenwalt is playing better than she’s ever played.”

Greenwalt finished with 18 points and seven rebounds, and junior Chesley Dabbs added 19 to give Tech three players in double figures.

Still, the trademark for any successful Lady Raider team is its defense, and the win over Texas was no exception.

The Lady Raiders scored 15 points off 16 Texas turnovers and out rebounded its opponent 37-34.

“The players held off challenges all night long,” said Sharp.

Texas (8-5) never led in the contest and was tied only twice early in the opening half in losing its back-to-back conference games for the first time since 2001.

“Every single player played their role. It will never be about the lack of effort with this bunch,” she said.

The Lady Raiders tied for first place in Big 12 standings at 3-0 with upstart Nebraska and Iowa State.