By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
Bailey Maupin scored five of her team-high 18 points in the final four minutes Monday night as the Texas Tech Lady Raiders remained undefeated with a 63-58 victory over the UTSA Roadrunners.
Maupin also had a big defensive play in the final minute.
With Tech leading by the eventual final score, both Maupin and Elina Arike stood their ground and got knocked down by UTSA guard Sidney Love.
Though Love’s shot went in, it was waved off on a charging call, one of two costly turnovers on the Roadrunners in the final 30 seconds.
Overall, Tech forced UTSA into a season-high 31 turnovers, which overshadowed what otherwise was a solid performance by the Roadrunners on the road against a Big 12 program.
UTSA out-shot Tech from the field (45.1 to 33.9) and won the rebounding battle (43-30), but it wasn’t enough. In the end, the Roadrunners’ three-game winning streak, including two on the road, was snapped.
Driving past defenders and creating space for herself much of the time, Love scored a team-high 18 points on seven of 14 shooting. Kyra White produced 13 points and eight rebounds. Meanwhile, freshman Aysia Proctor had 10 and five boards.
Guard Jasmine Shavers scored 15 points and had three steals for the Lady Raiders. Jordyn Merritt led defensively with four steals for Tech.
First half
Applying pressure on defense, the Lady Raiders held the Roadrunners without a field goal for more than four minutes in the second quarter en route to a 35-25 halftime lead.
Tech’s defense was the difference as the Raiders forced 18 turnovers and scored 21 points off those miscues. At one point in the second quarter, UTSA committed five turnovers in a three-minute span, allowing Tech to expand a nine-point lead to 17.
UTSA responded in the last few minutes of the half, outscoring Tech 8-2. Sophomore Sidney Love made a steal and hit two baskets in the last two minutes.
Kilah Freelon, Ashley Chevalier and Shavers led the Raiders in scoring in the half with eight points apiece. Though the Raiders hit only 35.3 percent from the field, they made up for that with nine of 11 shooting at the free-throw line.
UTSA, by contrast, was only two for two at the line. The Roadrunners were effective when they could get a shot off. They hit 52.4 percent from the field. Love had eight points and Aysia Proctor six at the half for the Roadrunners.
Records
Texas Tech 5-0
UTSA 3-2
Coming up
UTSA at Sam Houston State, Saturday, 4 p.m.