Maupin surpasses 500 career points against UIW
LUBBOCK, Texas – Sophomore Bailey Maupin eclipsed the 500 career points mark and sophomore Kilah Freelon posted her third double-double of the season as the Texas Tech Lady Raiders defeated the Incarnate Word Cardinals, 76-35, on Wednesday afternoon at the United Supermarkets Arena.
In front of an Education Day record crowd of 13,743, the 24th-best crowd in program history, the Lady Raiders (11-0) remained perfect with a solid defensive effort against Incarnate Word (5-3). The team totaled a season-high 17 steals in the game, while posting a school record six in the fourth quarter.
Coming into the game, UIW was 16th in the nation averaging 12.0 turnovers per game, but the Lady Raiders almost tripled that as they forced 31 Cardinal turnovers, which is the second time this season forcing 30+ in a game. In addition, Texas Tech held UIW to single-digit scoring in three of the four quarters today making it the 14th time that has happened this year. The Lady Raiders also posted their fourth game of the season with over 20 assists after dishing out 21 on the day.
Maupin recorded her 10th double-figure scoring game with 11 points, while also adding a team-best four assists and four steals. Freelon collected a double-double with 10 points and a team-leading 11 rebounds as she was perfect from the field (4-of-4) for the second-straight game.
Sophomore Jasmine Shavers tallied her eighth double-figure scoring game when she posted a team-best 15 with three steals, two assists and three boards. Freshman Loghan Johnson had herself a day after scoring a career-high 11 points on 50 percent shooting and four rebounds.
In the first quarter, the Lady Raiders got a 3-pointer from Maupin just 20 seconds in for an early, 3-0 advantage. The Cardinals answered by scoring the next seven points heading into the media timeout at the 4:54 mark. Maupin put up another jumper, then Johnson and Shavers added four more points for Tech to tie things at 9-all. At the end of the quarter, Elina Arike scored a layup and Shavers connected with a couple more free throws to lead, 13-9.
Texas Tech opened the second quarter on a 7-0 run thanks to buckets from Maupin, Saga Ukkonen and Arike for a 20-9 advantage. However, Incarnate Word responded with seven-consecutive points to cut into the lead. Tech ended the half on a 9-2 run, only allowing the Cardinals nine points in the period, to lead 29-18 after two.
Shavers began the third quarter scoring the first five points with a layup and 3-pointer to make it 34-18 in Tech’s favor. Maupin sparked an 8-2 run for the Lady Raiders after hitting two free throws, then Shavers added two more 3-pointers to increase the lead. Ashley Chevalier and Jordyn Merritt made back-to-back shots, then the Lady Raiders ended the period on a 10-2 run thanks to point scoring from Freelon, Merritt, Maupin and Jada Wynn to make it 58-30.
In the fourth quarter, Freelon opened the scoring with a free throw 40 seconds in. Then, Tech and UIW went into a drought for two minutes until Freelon made another layup on a fast break thanks to the steal by Chevalier. Ukkonen hit another 3-pointer for the Lady Raiders before Kelly Mora and Wynn added four more points at the end of the period to win the game by a 76-35 score.
QUOTES
Head coach Krista Gerlich
Opening statement…
“What a great atmosphere. So proud of Lubbock and West Texas for showing up, and our marketing department has just been incredible at organizing, I don’t know how you organize 13,000 kids, but it’s fantastic. They certainly make a huge difference and I certainly hope that they would go home and tell their parents how much fun they had and that they want to be season ticket holders. That’d be cool. They make a huge difference for us, and I love this game so much. I thought our kids played really, really well for it and I’m really proud of our defensive effort tonight. I thought we were consistent all day long and locked down a really methodical and good offensive team. I thought we took them out of what they wanted to do, and we got a lot of kids a lot of playing time and some career highs, so it’s fantastic.”
On the atmosphere and how it affects the team…
“Yeah, it’s unbelievable, right? I mean the energy that it provides, the adrenaline and the confidence that it gives your team… It’s a whole ‘nother level. And really, I don’t think non-college basketball players understand what it does for you and how much it helps you win basketball games. I mean, there’s a reason that it’s called the sixth man, the twelfth man, because the crowd provides that energy and that home court advantage for you. I’ve told stories about the games that we won at home early in the NCAA Tournament because of our crowd. I know Plenette [Pierson] did as well. And today, I think it was a great example of what it can look like and imagine if they’re all yelling only for the home team.”
#3 Jasmine Shavers
On playing in a loud environment…
“I think it really got us going. We used the energy that all of those little kids had and transferred that into how we played today. I think it showed.”
#23 Loghan Johnson
On her performance today…
“It felt good. My teammates are confident in me and my coaches are confident in me. It’s just a matter of going out there and playing with that same confidence that they have in me. It was a good day, and I’m looking to continue on that.”
UP NEXT
The Lady Raiders head to Makawao, Hawai’i to compete in the Maui Classic tournament against both Tulsa and Oregon State on Dec. 19-20.
–TECH–
Release provided by Casey Montalvo Texas Tech Athletics
