A cold-shooting second quarter from the Lady Raiders allowed the Cowgirls to control home court and steal a pivotal conference win.
The Texas Tech Lady Raiders still boast the most total wins and least losses overall in Big 12 women's basketball, but their latest defeat, falling 75-65 at Oklahoma State, drops them to fourth in the conference standings.
The Cowgirls used a balanced scoring attack that executed a 22-9 second quarter that the Lady Raiders didn't have an answer for. Oklahoma State improved to 20-7 and one spot below Texas Tech in the Big 12 standings at 9-5.
Texas Tech (23-4, 10-4 Big 12) saw senior guard Bailey Maupin score 19 points for the game, but that stretch just before halftime was detrimental. Oklahoma State retook the lead as the Lady Raiders went 0-for-7 from three-point range in the second quarter.
Maupin, the team's leading scorer, posted at least 16 points for the fourth time in the last five games. Snudda Collins provided a punch off the bench with 18 points on 7-of-15 shooting.
The Cowgirls played just eight players in the game, but five of them scored in double figures. Efficiency was key as Oklahoma State shot 54 percent from the field and an even 8-of-16 from behind the arc at the historic Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater.
The work doesn't get much easier for Texas Tech as their next game is against No. 12 Baylor. However, the Lady Raiders already have a 1-0 series lead over the Bears this year from their 61-60 win in Waco on Dec. 21.
Baylor (21-5, 11-3 Big 12) plays at UCF Sunday afternoon following a blowout loss at home to No. 17 TCU, another team Texas Tech has a valuable head-to-head lead over.
The game against the Horned Frogs is the Bears' second straight loss in a ranked Big 12 game. They fell to West Virginia in Morgantown on Feb. 1.
Texas Tech beat the Mountaineers by five on Jan. 7 and has matchups with Baylor, Colorado, Kansas and Arizona State to close out the season.
The meeting on Wednesday against the Bears figures to be one of the last on-paper tests for these Lady Raiders, but they cannot afford coughing up anymore winnable games like the one this weekend in Stillwater.