Texas Tech Athletics
Texas
Lady Raiders Fall to No. 5 Texas, 86-62
January 02, 2016 | Women's Basketball
Japreece Dean had 21 points against Texas on Saturday night.
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Jan. 2, 2016
AUSTIN, Texas -- Despite 21 points from Austin native Japreece Dean, the Texas Tech Lady Raiders fell 86-62 to No. 5 Texas on Saturday night, in Austin.Tech (9-4, 0-2) got off to a slow start, missing its first five shots and allowing Texas to take an early 9-0 lead. The Lady Raiders fought back and got as close as 24-22 in the second quarter, before going into halftime trailing, 36-28.
Texas (13-0, 2-0) came out of the gates strong in the third quarter, pushing its lead to as many as 15 behind 6-7 All-America candidate Imani Boyette, who finished the night with 24 points and 11 rebounds. Tech made an early fourth-quarter run to slice the deficit to nine, at 62-53, but Texas responded with eight-straight points to put the game out of reach. The 86 Longhorn points were a season high allowed by the Lady Raiders.
"Texas has a lot of size, and is very talented," Texas Tech head coach Candi Whitaker said. "They make it very difficult to get to the rim. I thought we hung in there for a good portion of the game, and played well at times. We just needed some more people to step up and hit shots."
Playing in front of at least 30 friends and family members, Dean, the Vista Ridge product, hit 10-16 shots to notch her fourth 20-point outing in the last seven games.
"I thought Japreece Dean was fearless," Whitaker said. "She did not play like a freshman tonight. It takes a lot of poise to come into a game like this as a freshman and play the way she did. I thought she showed she is a big-time player."
Texas' size advantage caused problems for the Lady Raiders underneath, to the tune of a 44-16 Longhorn advantage in points in the paint and a 46-34 disparity on the glass. Texas also hit 20-27 free throws compared to a 3-7 mark for the Lady Raiders.
Texas shot 16-26 (.615) from the field in the second half, giving the Longhorns a 31-65 (.477) mark for the game, the highest percentage Tech has allowed this season. The Lady Raiders shot 26-72 (.361) from the floor, their second-straight game under 40 percent.
The Lady Raiders are now 0-4 this season when being outrebounded, 0-4 when allowing at least 70 points and 0-2 when shooting under 40 percent.
The Lady Raiders will now return home to face Oklahoma State on Wednesday, Jan. 6. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., and the game will be streamed live on texastech.tv.
Visit www.TexasTech.com for the latest news and information on the women's basketball program. Fans also can follow the program on its social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/LadyRaiderWBB and @LadyRaiderWBB on Twitter.
