Texas Tech sports news roundup: Lady Raiders begin in style, soccer in semis, more

Here is your Texas Tech sports news roundup for November 6, 2024.

Texas Tech Lady Raiders open the season with a blowout win

Monday night, the Texas Tech Lady Raiders opened their 2024-25 season in impressive fashion. Taking down Incarnate Word in Lubbock 78-48, Tech got out of the gates the right way.

Oregon State transfer and Lubbock native Adiee Blacklock impressed in her Lady Raider debut. Leading the team with 14 points, she drilled four shots from beyond the 3-point arc. She also added five rebounds and two assists to the winning effort.

Junior guard Jasmine Shavers was right behind Blacklock in the scoring department with 13 points. Meanwhile, fellow junior guard Bailey Maupin added 12 points to the scorebook.

For the game, Tech shot 43.9% from the floor while holding Incarnate Word to just 26.3% shooting. The Lady Raiders also knocked down eight 3-pointers and 20 free throws in the win.

"Excited about this season and this team," head coach Krista Gerlich said. "The first half I thought was pretty good. I thought that we scored it well and we had some momentum building up. It was tough playing against the zone, right out of the box, just because we've worked really, really hard against man, and want to be a really good man offensive team. And I thought that we did not really execute our zone offense as well as we needed to. We fouled quite a bit. But, the first half wasn't terrible. I thought it was pretty good.

"The second half was not pretty, we definitely did not adjust. We continued to foul and put them at the free throw line, turned the ball over way too much and we just never got in the groove that I wanted us to get in in the second half. We played a lot of kids, and I wanted to play a lot of kids in these early games and get some rotations down. And it's going to take me a little bit to figure out the rotations, but I thought overall, obviously, a 30-point win on opening night is a good day."

The Lady Raiders return to action Thursday at 7 p.m. against Houston Christian. The game can be seen on ESPN+.

Texas Tech soccer to play in Big 12 Tournament Semifinals

The No. 17 Texas Tech soccer team will play Kansas in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals tonight in Kansas City. If the Red Raiders win, they will reach the conference tournament final for the first time in program history.

Kansas and Tech did not play this season. The Jayhawks are 11-5-4 on the season and 6-4-1 in Big 12 play.

Saturday, the Red Raiders had to come from behind in the quarterfinals against Baylor. After falling behind 1-0 just five minutes into the game, Macy Blackburn scored for Tech in the 10th minute to tie the game.

Then, just before halftime, Storie Sexton scored off of a rebound for the game-winning goal. However, in the 83rd minute, keeper Faith Nguyen had to make a spectacular save to preserve the win. The diving save was one of three that she made on the day.

Now the Red Raiders are set to face the Jayhawks. Tonight's game can be seen on ESPN+.

Texas Tech LB Jacob Rodriguez earns weekly Big 12 honor

Finally, Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez has been honored by the Big 12 for his huge game in the Red Raiders' upset of No. 11 Iowa State on Saturday. After the Wichita Falls native recorded 13 tackles (2.5 for loss), 2.0 sacks, and a forced fumble, Rodriguez was named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week.

This is the third time this year that a Red Raider has earned a weekly Big 12 award. After week one, receiver Drae McCray was named the Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week and after week six, Tahj Brooks was named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week.

Rodriguez leads the Big 12 by averaging 10.5 tackles per game in conference play. Now, he and his teammates turn their attention to this Saturday's home game against Colorado in Lubbock at 3 p.m.