Texas Tech Athletics
Oklahoma State
Lady Raiders Fall Short Against OSU
March 01, 2015 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 28, 2015
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LUBBOCK, Texas -- It was almost the perfect ending to senior day for Kelsi Baker.
With less than four seconds remaining, Oklahoma State's Brittney Martin missed two free throws with the second bouncing off the rim and in Baker's hands, giving her a shot to dribble just past mid-court to take a final shot to try and tie the game.
"I thought, 'This is it. This is what I've been practicing so many half-court shots for,'" Baker said.
But Baker's final heave went just right, squeezing between the backboard and rim as Texas Tech fell short of its comeback in the final minute against Oklahoma State, 47-44 on Saturday night at United Supermarkets Arena.
A bittersweet final home game for Baker and fellow senior Amber Battle, who led Tech with 10 points and became the 31st Lady Raider to eclipse the 1,000-point mark.
"I wasn't really thinking about the points for me," Battle said. "I was wanting the 'W' more than anything."
Tech (15-14, 5-12 Big 12) traded runs in the first half with the Cowgirls and fell behind by nine with 3:31 to play before showing glimpses of its brilliant perimeter shooting that has carried the Lady Raiders to so many wins this season. Freshman Dayo Olabode hit a jumper followed by a perfectly executed final play of the half that resulted in a Minta Spears 3-pointer to pull tech within four at the break.
But Oklahoma State (19-9, 9-8) and Tech's offensive struggles carried into the second half, making it difficult for either team to pull away completely as neither team shot better than 26 percent in the final 20 minutes.
The Lady Raiders' best opportunity came in the opening minutes of the second half as Battle, Rayven Brooks and Ivonne CookTaylor all hit shots on four of Tech's first five possessions to go on an 11-4 run and take a 29-26 lead at the first timeout. But Tech's shooting went cold for the next 10 minutes as OSU posted a 14-4 run to take a 40-33 lead with six minutes remaining and hold off the comeback in the final minutes.
"We really struggled," Tech head coach Candi Whitaker said. "I think we settled for too many threes sometimes, but when you are open, at this level, you have to make open shots ... I think we battled back at times and made some defensive stops but it was just a grind of a game."
Tech now has the short, 48-hour turnaround to travel to Waco for its season finale and take on Big 12 Conference champion No. 3 Baylor (26-3, 15-2) who finds itself on a two-game losing streak for the first time since 2010. The two teams will tip off at 7 p.m. CT, Monday, on FOX Sports Southwest.
