Lady Raiders Snap Two-Game Skid

by Jay Langley, Special to KAMC28.TV Despite 19 turnovers and surrendering 28 offensive rebounds the Lady Raiders (7-3) managed a 64-49 win over UT-Arlington Wednesday night at the United Spirit Arena. "I was very pleased the way we came out in the second half and just willed ourselves to win," Tech coach Kristy Curry said. "As many offensive rebounds as we gave up, and all the negatives that obviously werent very good, I think good teams find a way to win." Techs second half defense was the difference allowing the Mavericks (3-5) to shoot just 20.5 percent in the last 20 minutes. "I thought we played pretty lousy in the second half," UT-Arlington coach Donna Capps said. "We didnt come out with the intensity that I thought we would after being tied at the half. I thought we would come out and be pumped up. But I thought we came out sloppy." With the score even at 28 Tech controlled the first 12 minutes of the second half outscoring UT-Arlington 20-5. Alesha Robertson led the Lady Raiders with a team high 20 points. "Techs team is coming together and theyre really looking solid," Capps said. "But 55 pretty much beat us tonight. Shes a player. She did a great job." Tech is bouncing back after back-to-back road losses to Fresno State and Stanford. "Our fan support is so good here," she said, "that it just really gets us back on track. It really gets our confidence back up. We were really excited. UTA was a great game tonight and I think its going to make us better." UT-Arlington was led by 5-foot-7 guard Terra Wallace with 18 points. But Wallace went scoreless for the first 14 minutes of the second half as Tech built its lead to double digits. "We just had one of those talks," Curry said of her halftime speech to her team. "Im not trying to be funny but I dont really remember the exact words of what I said. I think we just needed to have a sense of urgency. We just tried to fire them up and get them ready to go." "I looked for my shot a little more in the second half," said Chesely Dabbs who registered 11 points on the night. "We knew that the refs were going to, well we hoped that they were going to, call a lot of hand checks from the first half, so we knew that if we waited for them to call it we could penetrate and start knocking down free throws." The UT-Arlington game marked the seventh game in 14 days for the Lady Raiders. "You either get better or you get worse," Curry said. "We just keep teaching and they are working really hard. There are a lot of teams that will give up 28 offensive rebounds to Texas-Arlington but its just unacceptable. I want my team to be the hardest working team in the Big 12 and that just comes with practicing and working hard." The Lady Raiders take the court again December 14 against Oral Roberts at the USA.