Lady Raiders ready for Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship

LUBBOCK, Texas – The Texas Tech Lady Raiders are heading to Kansas City, Mo., to compete in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship beginning on Thursday, March 7 at 5:30 p.m. when Tech takes on 13-seeded Houston.

Coming into the championship as the 12-seed, the Lady Raiders (16-15, 5-13 Big 12) will face the Houston Cougars first on Thursday. If Tech wins, the team will then compete against 5-seed Baylor the following morning at 11 a.m. The Lady Raiders have defeated the Cougars twice this season, making them the only Big 12 team Tech has swept in conference play.

First, the Lady Raiders opened conference play at Houston on December 30, where they knocked down 10 3-pointers en route to the 79-71 victory. In that game, sophomore Jada Wynn had a career game as she posted 23 points on 6-of-7 shooting from behind the arc. Also, Bailey Maupin, Kilah Freelon and Jasmine Shavers all added double-figure scoring.

Then on January 24, the Lady Raiders would get the sweep of the Cougars after taking them down 66-48 at home. In the game, Tech forced 20 turnovers and held Houston to 30.2 percent shooting, while recording a 52.2 percent shooting day for themselves. Jordyn Merritt led the game after going 10-of-15 from the field with 24 points, followed by freshman Loghan Johnson with 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting.

Texas Tech currently holds an all-time 18-23 record at the Big 12 Championship and has two tournament titles under its belt, which were won in 1998 and 1999. The Lady Raiders have not won their first game at the Big 12 Championship since they beat Oklahoma on March 8, 2019 by a 104-84 score. Additionally, in the past 20 seasons (since 2003-04), the Lady Raiders have only won seven first-round games.

The Lady Raiders are led in scoring by both Shavers (14.8) and Maupin (14.2), who were just announced to the All-Big 12 Honorable Mention team by the conference office on Tuesday. Following them in scoring is Merritt with 8.0 points per game as she is also second on the team with 5.5 rebounds per game. Shavers is just behind Merritt with 5.1 boards per game while Maupin leads the team with 98 assists.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT

The Houston Cougars finished the regular season with a 14-15 overall record and 5-13 conference record. Houston was on a three-game losing streak in Big 12 play before ending their regular season with a home win over the UCF Knights by a 68-67 score. As a team, the Cougars are good defensively as they are sixth nationally with 21.55 turnovers forced per game and ninth with 11.5 steals per game. They are also impressive off the bench as they rank 16th in bench points with 26.5 per game. Houston is led by Laila Blair, who was named to the All-Big 12 Honorable Mention team yesterday. Blair is the only Cougar to average double-figure scoring with 16.1 points per game. Following her is N’Yah Boyd with 9.8 points per game and Maliyah Johnson with 8.6. Leading Houston in rebounds are both Peyton McFarland and Kamryn Jones, who total 4.3 and 4.1 rebounds per game, respectively.

LIVE STATS/STREAMING

Live stats will be provided on StatBroadcast and the game will be aired on ESPN+. Fans can also listen to the game in the Varsity Network App.

2024 Phillips 66 Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship Schedule

Thursday, March 7 – First Round

Game 1: No. 12 Texas Tech vs. No. 13 Houston, 5:30 p.m. CT

Game 2: No. 11 Cincinnati vs. No. 14 UCF, 8 p.m. CT/9 p.m. ET

Friday, March 8 – Second Round

Game 3: No. 5 Baylor vs. Game 1 Winner, 11 a.m. CT

Game 4: No. 8 Oklahoma State vs. No. 9 TCU, 1:30 p.m. CT

Game 5: No. 7 Kansas vs. No. 10 BYU, 5:30 p.m. CT/4:30 p.m. MT

Game 6: No. 6 West Virginia vs. Winner Game 2, 8 p.m. CT/9 p.m. ET

Saturday, March 9 – Quarterfinals

Game 7: No. 4 Iowa State vs. Winner Game 3, 11 a.m. CT

Game 8: No. 1 Oklahoma vs. Winner Game 4, 1:30 p.m. CT

Game 9: No. 2 Texas vs. Winner Game 5, 5:30 p.m. CT/4:30 p.m. MT

Game 10: No. 3 Kansas State vs. Winner Game 6, 8 p.m. CT/9 p.m. ET

Monday, March 11 – Semifinals

Game 11: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 1:30 p.m. CT

Game 12: Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10, 4 p.m. CT/3 p.m. MT/5 p.m. ET

Tuesday, March 12 – Championship

Game 13: Winner Game 11 vs. Winner Game 12, 8 p.m. CT/7 p.m. MT/9 p.m. ET

–TECH–

Release Provided By Casey Montalvo Texas Tech Athletics