Texas Tech was bounced from the Big 12 Tournament by Kansas State on Thursday, forcing the Lady Raiders to wait for their fate in the NCAA Tournament.
LUBBOCK, Texas - The No. 21-ranked Texas Tech Lady Raiders were upset in the second round of the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City, losing to the Kansas State Wildcats 58-51 on Thursday after a furious comeback effort by the underdogs.
Kansas State (17-16) now continues its magical run through the conference bracket. The 12-seeded Wildcats have beaten 13-seed Cincinnati, 5-seed Texas Tech and 4-seed Oklahoma State this week, setting up a meeting with No. 1-seeded TCU in the semifinals Saturday afternoon.
Texas Tech (25-7) awaits an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament next Sunday, March 15, at the conclusion of conference tournaments. NCAA Tournament games begin on March 20-21.
The Lady Raiders simply let this one slip out from under them. Tech held a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter before the Wildcats stormed to a 21-0 run to close the game. Texas Tech missed its last 13 field goal attempts in the final period.
"All the credit to Kansas State for continuing to fight, and they really played with a lot of desperation, I thought, late in the fourth quarter and found ways to win," Tech coach Krista Gerlich said postgame.
"I felt like our kids put us in a position to win, we just couldn't put it away. Our theme this entire week was 'finish', and particularly finish them game, and I don't think that we did that."
Snudda Collins, the Big 12 Sixth Woman of the Year, came off the bench to lead Texas Tech with 14 points. The Lady Raiders shot just 29 percent from the field (16-for-56) in the contest.
Tech lead 51-37 with 7:42 remaining. According to ESPN's game tracking technology, the Lady Raiders had a 99.2 percent chance of winning the game at this point. Kansas State then went on its run to tie the game at 51 by the 3:30 mark.
A free throw by Nastja Claessens gave the Wildcats the lead 52-51 a minute later. K-State tacked on more free throws in the final moments as the Lady Raiders went cold from the field.
The loss is now Tech's third out of the last four games to close the regular season. After a historic program-best start of 19-0 this season, the Lady Raiders had been in the national rankings for much of the season and will remain strong candidates to receive a bid in the March Madness bracket.
Earlier in the season, Kansas State was the team to make Texas Tech 19-1. Now the Wildcats sweep the season series by knocking the Lady Raiders out of the conference tournament that many expected to see championship contention.
If there's an area where Texas Tech can improve in the do-or-die postseason to come, it'd be on the mental side of the game.
"We got a little comfortable after the first quarter," Gerlich admitted after her team lead 21-9 after the first 10 minutes. "[They took] us out of what we were doing, and not necessarily because of what they were doing, but I thought mentally we started trying to do some things that we didn't need to do because what we were doing was working.
"I know our kids are really gonna look back on this one as one that got away from them, and it's unfortunate, but we feel very confident that we're still playing."