Texas Tech Holds Off Jayhawks, 54-44

Box Score

LUBBOCK, Texas –Texas Tech’s sharp shooting at the free throw line prevented Kansas women’s basketball from earning its first Big 12 win of the season, as the Lady Raiders claimed the 54-44 victory on Saturday night inside the United Supermarkets Arena.
 
Kansas connected on more field goals, pulled down more rebounds and held the Lady Raiders to a season-low 44 shot attempts, but could not break through in the fourth quarter. Texas Tech shot only 1-of-8 from the field over the last 10 minutes, but remained solid from the free throw line, sinking 10-of-12 attempts, to protect its lead and fend off the Jayhawks.
 
Freshman forward Tyler Johnson put forth a career night, leading the Jayhawks (5-16, 0-10 Big 12) in scoring for the first time and tallying a career-high 12 points. The Leavenworth, Kansas native shot 6-of-9 from the field and added three rebounds and one block. Sophomore guard Chayla Cheadle posted double-figure scoring for the third-time this season, collecting 11 points on 50 percent shooting. Junior forward Jada Brown led the Kansas squad in rebounds, tying her career-high with nine boards.
 
Freshman guard Japreece Dean led all scorers on the night with 21 points, leading the Lady Raiders (11-10, 2-8 Big 12) to their second conference victory of the season. Dean shot just 4-of-13 from the field, but converted on 11 free throws, many coming in the waning moments of the game. The Cedar Park, Texas product filled out her line with a team-leading eight rebounds and four assists. Redshirt junior guard Ivonne CookTaylor and senior guard Rayven Brooks also reached double-figure scoring, with 16 and 10 points, respectively.
 
Texas Tech broke out to an 8-2 lead early in the contest with the help of two baskets from CookTaylor, the Lady Raiders’ leading scorer this season. A three-point play from Brown at the 1:32 mark of the first quarter brought the Kansas bench to its feet. The Jayhawks ended the period on just 2-of-9 shooting, leaving them in a six-point hole heading into the second quarter.
 
Both teams endured a five-minute scoreless stretch, as turnovers brought both offenses to a standstill. The two teams combined for 14 giveaways in the second quarter, preventing either squad from capitalizing off the other’s mistakes. Despite shooting 45.5 percent from the field in the first half, the Lady Raiders’ attempted only 22 shots, connecting on 10 of those tries to carry an eight-point lead into the intermission.
 
Kansas drained eight field goals in the opening half, all coming from inside the paint. The effective inside game offset a cold shooting performance from distance, as the Jayhawks missed all seven of their three-point attempts over the first 20 minutes of the game.
 
Kansas could not break through Texas Tech’s six-point lead in the third quarter, failing to score on every possession with the potential to cut any deeper into the home team’s advantage. Aldridge sank Kansas’ first long-range basket at the 1:11 mark of the third quarter to bring the deficit back to seven, but the Lady Raiders answered again.
 
A three-ball from Dean at the end of the shot clock with just nine seconds left in the period pushed Texas Tech’s advantage back to double digits, 42-32. Aldridge tried to answer with another three of her own at the buzzer but the shot ricocheted off the glass.
 
A steal and run-out from freshman guard Aisia Robertson at the 6:58 mark of the final period came less than 30 seconds after Johnson’s 10th point of the game and cut the Lady Raider lead to just seven points. Kansas could not keep the momentum going and missed its next five shots, causing a scoring drought of over four minutes that allowed Texas Tech to push its lead back to 11 points.
 
A three-pointer from freshman guard Kylee Kopatich, her first field goal of the evening, with 2:22 left in the game brought the Jayhawks’ chances back to life. On the following possession, a layup from Cheadle to bring Kansas within six points was waived off for an offensive foul. The Jayhawks started to press and quickly stole Texas Tech’s in-bound pass, but Cheadle’s layup rattled off the rim. Kansas kept attacking, but baskets from Cheadle and Johnson could not dent the Lady Raider lead. Texas Tech converted 7-of-8 free throws in the final minute of play to seal the 54-44 victory
 
POSTGAME NOTES
Texas Tech 54, Kansas 44
Jan. 30, 2016 – Lubbock, Texas
 
United Supermarkets Arena
Attendance: 3,671 (Capacity: 15,000)

SERIES INFORMATION

• Kansas trails Texas Tech in the overall series, 16-10, and today’s loss snapped a four-game winning streak over the Lady Raiders.
• KU is 3-9 when traveling to Texas Tech and has won three of the last four contests in Lubbock.
• The Jayhawks are 119-203 all-time against Big 12 Conference foes.
• Kansas has a record of 364-408 away from Allen Fieldhouse.

 
 TEAM NOTES

• Kansas netted 24 points in the paint at Texas Tech, marking the most points in the paint scored by the Jayhawks since the first meeting against West Virginia (1/3/16), when KU scored 26 points inside.
• KU grabbed 37 rebounds compared to Texas Tech’s 32, marking the first game that Kansas has outrebounded its opponent since recording five more than West Virginia (1/3/16).
• The Jayhawks finished the game with a perfect mark from the charity stripe, after sinking all five attempts. KU’s 100 percent free throw percentage is the first perfect percentage with five or more attempts since 2013 when the Jayhawks made all six attempts against Colorado.
• Kansas scored 10 points off of Lady Raider turnovers, which is the third game in the past four that Kansas has scored double figures of opponent’s turnovers.
• Texas Tech entered Saturday’s contest averaging a Big 12-leading 15.7 offensive rebounds per game. Kansas held the Lady Raiders to just six offensive boards.

 
 INDIVIDUAL

• Freshman forward Tyler Johnson scored a career-best 12 points at Texas Tech behind 6-of-9 (.667) shooting. Johnson’s 12-point performance is her first double-figure effort of the season and the first time she has led Kansas in scoring.
• Junior forward Jada Brown tied her career-high rebound mark of nine against Texas Tech. The last outing Brown grabbed nine rebounds was against Texas Southern during the 2014-15 season. She also tallied three points and a block.
• Sophomore guard Lauren Aldridge dished out five assists against the Lady Raiders, the most assists for the Marshfield, Missouri native since seven in the 2015-16 season opener against Texas Southern.
• Freshman guard Kylee Kopatich swiped away three steals Saturday night against Texas Tech, the most steals for Kopatich since recording her career-high mark of four against Creighton (12/2/15).

POSTGAME QUOTES
Kansas Head Coach Brandon Schneider
On the loss:
“We had four starters go 4-27. We really struggle to make shots and I think that’s what happened to us today.”

On his thoughts about the game:
“Something really positive that I think we accomplished today was holding Texas Tech to six offensive rebounds. Tech leads the Big 12 Conference in offensive rebounds with about 16. This is an area that I think we really performed well in. We got 14 more shots than Tech did and forced some turnovers, but we struggled to make shots. I thought Texas Tech did a good job mixing up their defenses.

On his thoughts about Texas Tech point guard, Japreece Dean:
“Obviously Japreece Dean really controlled the game. She is having a heck of a year and I hope she will get strong consideration as one of the better freshmen in the league.”

On what he thinks Texas Tech did to mix up their defense:
“Texas Tech went ‘triangle and two’ and we had to review what we really wanted to do against that. That is probably my fault for not going over more of that stu . Once we got a handle on what we wanted to run against that, we got a couple of baskets and got them out of it. I thought Texas Tech did a good job of being ‘assignment correct’ and they took some good charges. For instance, we have some people on our team that you don’t have to guard and Texas Tech didn’t guard them. I think that is pretty smart.”

On whether he saw anything from Japreece Dean that he wasn’t expecting:
“No, I’ve known [Dean] for a long, long time. I’ve watched her play a bunch of games. She is a heck of a player and has a really bright future. I think she is really dangerous o ball screens because she can split you and if she has a ‘floater’ she can shoot the three. We have one player on our team that we thought could slow her down a little bit and she was in foul trouble after that. I think we are a little short in regards to having the personnel that can slow her down.
NEXT UP
The Jayhawks return to Allen Fieldhouse Tuesday, Feb. 2, to face the Iowa State Cyclones at 7 p.m. Fans can follow the action on the Jayhawk Television Network and over the airwaves on the Jayhawk Radio Network.
 
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