 "Photo: Sam Grenadier")
There may not be many times when an offensive foul is heralded as the game-winning play.
But in Texas Tech's 65-62 upset over No. 8 Texas Saturday in the United Spirit Arena, the Lady Raiders celebrated over an offensive foul more than some probably have in their careers.
Oddly enough, it wasn't the shot by Dominic Seals that put the Lady Raiders up 64-62 with seven seconds left, it was Jordan Murphree drawing an offensive foul on Texas' Kathleen Nash when the Longhorns had a chance to steal a win or take the game to overtime that gave Tech the win.
"It is unusual," Murphree said. "I missed the block out earlier on a free throw and I knew I had to make up for it some how. So I started running."
Nash said the call came as a surprise to her as well.
"I was just watching (Murphree) run down the court, and the referee just looked at her fall and made the call," she said. "It was his decision. I was just running, and she might have been in front of me and fell."
It also helps that Murphree led the team with 19 points on 7-of-18 shooting. She tied her career-high with three 3-pointers and set a new career-high with eight attempts from beyond the arc.
Regardless of how the game was won, Tech coach Kristy Curry gained her first victory over a Top-10 team as thebLady Raiders' coach. The end of the first and second halves may have given Tech the win and sealed the Longhorn's fate.
Tech (10-4, 1-0 in Big 12 Conference play) started the game sporadically. All the Lady Raiders had to show for at the 11:56 mark was Seals' four points and a Kierra Mallard 3-pointer. Texas' defense smothered the Lady Raiders, forcing six turnovers by the 11-minute mark in the first half.
The turnovers helped the Longhorns (12-3, 0-1) gain a 13-4 advantage early in the game, which marked their largest lead in the game. Brittainey Raven was a catalyst in the run, scoring seven of those 13 to put Texas on top. With a game-high 21 points, Raven became the 33rd player in school history to surpass 1,000 points in a career.
After the Longhorns had the 13-4 lead, Tech slowly climbed back into the game.
It was not until the end of the first half, when Tech had its own spark in Tiny Henderson and Tilmila Martin.
Down 24-29 and with Texas in foul trouble, Martin found a way to get to the free-throw line by drawing fouls on Ashleigh Fontenette and Raven. Fontenette's foul gave Martin a three-point play, making it a 29-27 lead for Texas. After Raven missed two free throws on Texas' next possession, Martin found her way to the line again, tieing the game at 29. It was the first time the game was tied since 2-2 with 18:43 left in the half.
A Murphree 3-pointer gave Tech its second lead at 32-31 and Tiny Henderson's steal on Texas' next possession led to a layup to end the half.
The Lady Raiders finally had the momentum they had been working for throughout the first half.
The momentum proved to work in Tech's favor as they opened the second half with an 11-3 run to push the lead to 45-34.
Texas coach Gail Goestenkors said confidence was something she saw different in Tech during the second half.
The Lady Raiders did not extinguish their lead for all of the second half. However, they did allow Texas to make a push down the stretch, tieing the game, 62-62 with a little over a minute left in the game.
Needing a plan to prevent the comeback, Curry wanted the ball in Martin's hands on the next possession because the junior guard is tough to defend off the dribble.
However, Martin did not take the shot. Instead, she dumped it off to Seals for a layup and the lead with seven seconds left.
Murphree drawing the offensive foul on Nash on Texas' final possession prevented any last-second shot the Longhorns could get to win the game.
Curry said the win will be short-lived considering Tech visits No. 3 Texas A&M at 7 p.m. Tuesday in College Station.
"I think we're ready to go," she said. "We'll get on the plane right now and fly down there and be ready to go."
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