Texas Tech used a hot hand from the three-point line to defeat No.

14

Iowa State, 78-66 in front of 12,083 at Hilton Coliseum Saturday.

The fifteenth-ranked Lady Raiders set a school record by hitting 12

three-point field goals. Amber Tarr had five three-pointers and

21points in

the contest and Natalie Ritchie came off the bench to add four

three-pointers and 17 points.

Along with shooting 47.5 percent (28 of 59) from the field and 57.1

percent (12 of 21) from three-point land, Texas Tech used a physical

defense

to force Iowa State to turn the ball over 20 times .

“In the beginning, when I was turning it over, it got them in the

game

right way. It gave them confidence” Angie Welle said. “If we would have

jumped on them right at the beginning, handled the ball and did what we

were

supposed to do, I think it would have been a completely different

story. But

we gave them confidence right at the beginning and they ran away with

it.”

Welle finished the game with eight turnovers.

The Lady Raiders defense and double-teaming of Welle was nothing

that

Iowa State wasn’t expecting.

“They did come from a lot of angles. We’ve seen that all year, but

didn’t

handle it well tonight,” ISU head coach Bill Fennelly said. “Then when

we

did kick it out, we had some wide open looks at the basket, very few of

them

did we make. We hit a couple. Most of the three pointers that we took

were

fairly good looks at the goal, but they weren’t going in today.”

The Cyclones shot 24 of 60 from the field (40 percent) and were 8 of

26

from beyond the arc (30.8 percent.)

A six-minute scoring drought midway through the first half put Iowa

State

down by as many as 11 points. Baskets from Lindsey Wilson and Welle and

two

Wilson free throws in the final minute of the half brought the Cyclones

to

within 35-29 at halftime.

Tracy Paustian hit a three-pointer to open up the second half got

Iowa

State within three points, but it could not piece together a complete

rally

as the Lady stretched their lead to as large as a 17-point cushion with

4:03

left in the game.

“When we get back in the game like that as a team we have to do a

better

job realizing that the next possession is huge,” said Wilson, who

scored 21

and had seven assists. “We get a three [pointer] and we’re down by

three and

come back down the court and we have to get a stop and then we have to

score

and we didn’t. We let them score and all the sudden it was a 12-point

game

again.”

Welle and Paustian were the main offensive threats in the second

half for

the Cyclones as they fought to comeback from behind.

Welle scored 18 of her 26 points in the final half and grabbed 11

rebounds.

Paustian hit three three-pointers.

“We just never could find back-to-back minutes, back-to-back

possessions

where we could gain some momentum,” Fennelly said. “Too many turnovers

and

not a good field goal percentage on our part, you just can’t beat good

teams

that way.”

Iowa State held a large rebounding advantage that was not evident in

the

game’s outcome. The Cyclones out-rebounded Texas Tech 45-29.

Tracy Gahan and Welle each grabbed 15 rebounds with Gahan setting a new

career-high with her performance.

Texas Tech and Iowa State are both uncharacteristically looking up

at

other teams in the conference standings. Texas Tech improves to 3-3 in

conference action and 11-5 overall. Iowa State drops to 2-4 in the

Big12 and

14-4 overall.

Lady Raider head coach Marsha Sharp feels good about picking up her

first

victory at Hilton Coliseum.

“I’m excited for our team. I think the reason is because we have so

much

respect for this program, the fans and the atmosphere that they create.

If

your able to come in here and get a win, you have to feel really good

about

the way you played,” Sharp said. “I thought we had a lot of different

players that stepped up and made some big plays on both ends of the

floor to

give us a chance. Honestly, it came down to who could hit

three-pointers and

who didn’t get as many to go down. Fortunately, for us we shot it well

and

got some things to happen on the offensive end.”

The Cyclones next travel to Boulder to face No. 22 Colorado

Wednesday at

8 p.m.