Texas Tech super senior guard Lexy Hightower scored 16 points on on 6-for-7 shooting, one short of a season high.
Problem is, Oklahoma State sophomore guard Lexy Keys went 5-for-16 and 17 points, and the rest of the Oklahoma State Cowgirls played better as they got the win over the Texas Tech Lady Raiders 57-55 Saturday night at the United Supermarkets Arena.
Oklahoma State head coach Jim Littell compared the two Lexys, who made a huge impact for their teams Saturday night.
“I think they’re both good players and they hit clutch shots,” Littell said. “Hightower came off staggered screens and hit that shot, but Lexy [Keys] comes back and hits a huge shot as well.”
We’ll talk about that shot in the second half section, but Texas Tech had a chance to force overtime with .7 seconds left after being down as many as 11 points, but Oklahoma State’s defense was too strong in the end as the Cowgirls survived to get back to .500 on the season.
The Lady Raiders drop to 8-6 on the season and 1-2 in the Big 12. Oklahoma State is now 6-6 on the season and finally have a Big 12 win (1-2).
First Half: Hightower Shines as Rest of Lady Raiders Don’t, Turnovers Galore
Super senior guard Gray, an Oklahoma State transfer last season, was held scoreless in what was an uncharacteristic half, while junior guard Bre’Amber Scott only had four points and super senior forward Taylah Thomas had one.
Hightower made all four of her shots, all from behind the arc, to finish the first half with 12 points and be a bright spot on a Lady Raider team that had so much trouble finding the basket.
In the first half, Oklahoma State forced 10 Tech turnovers and scored 15 points off of them, by far the biggest difference between the two teams. Tech only forced four turnovers and scored four points off them.
Oklahoma State finished with 21 points off turnovers compared to Tech’s eight, something Cowgirl head coach Jim Littell said was necessary for them to get the win.
Gerlich said the turnovers were costly, especially since they were in transition.
“[Oklahoma State] normally [has] a hard time scoring,” Gerlich said, “and they score in transition well because they need to get some easy buckets, and I think our turnovers just fed right into them.”
Junior guard Lauren Fields was red-hot in the second quarter, scoring six of her 10 first-half points and adding two steals to keep her Cowgirls ahead.
Lexy Keys closed out the half with a buzzer-beater three-pointer as Oklahoma State went into halftime up 35-25.
Second Half: Slugfest Third, Gray and Hightower Comeback in the Fourth Isn’t Enough
Nobody on either team made much of anything in the third quarter.
At one point, Tech went six and a half minutes without a field goal, and both teams combined to shoot 28% from the field in the third quarter, but Oklahoma State still held a nine-point lead after 30 minutes.
Then the fourth quarter came, and Gray came alive, finally scoring like the preseason All-American she is.
Tech continued to creep back in, and Gray put up three points on a free throw and a contested layup to cut the Cowgirl lead to a single point with a little over two minutes left.
Fields had to put the team on her back just to keep them ahead, accounting for seven of Oklahoma State’s nine fourth-quarter points, and her mid-range jumper with 1:16 left and two free throws from N’Yah Boyd got the lead back to five.
Tech’s Hightower decided she was in the first half again and drained a triple off staggered screens, the one Littell mentioned, to cut Oklahoma State’s lead to two with 40 seconds left, but the Cowgirls’ Keys hit a dagger triple with 9.2 seconds left.
Hightower drained another triple and Tech’s defense caused Oklahoma State to throw it away, but .7 seconds wasn’t enough, and Oklahoma State ultimately survived the furious Lady Raider comeback.
Up Next
The Lady Raiders will go to Morgantown, West Virginia to play the West Virginia Mountaineers at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.
Hightower said the team learned from Saturday’s game that they have to be ready every night.
“We have to be ready every game, and we have to bring it every game. Every game is important, and we have to understand that.”
Gerlich agreed and added her own thoughts, including on how they had an opportunity to get back in it in the fourth quarter, but they should have played better throughout the entire game.
She said even in the second half, there were mental lapses and defensive mistakes, and back in the first quarter, there were really easy buckets that were missed.
“That’s a mental focus, that’s a mental toughness issue,” Gerlich said, “and I think it’s just the thing that our kids have got to learn that hey, day in and day out, you’ve got to show up.”
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