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Texas Tech women's basketball shows it's 'outmatched' no longer
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- Texas Tech women's basketball shows it's 'outmatched' no longer
Perhaps a little bit of doubt began to creep in from the outside as the Texas Tech women's basketball team experienced its first rough patch of the season.
The first loss of the season turned into two, and then three in a four-game span. Consecutive home games resulted in setbacks to teams in the middle of the Big 12 pack.
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Was the 19-0 start fool's gold? Is the team regressing?
Is this the same ol' Lady Raiders?
The team delivered a resounding "no" on Sunday.
Reeling from an 84-70 home loss to Iowa State in which it never led, Tech played in such a way that would make Red Raiders coach Grant McCasland grin.
The toughest team won.
The No. 21 Lady Raiders gutted through a poor shooting start and made the plays when they mattered most. In a contest that could've sent Tech spiraling, it answered with a 62-60 victory over No. 12 TCU. Even the opposing coach noted how grit made the difference.
Texas Tech's Snudda Collins (0) reacts after a win over TCU in a Big 12 women's basketball game Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, at United Supermarkets Arena.
"Credit Tech for making the plays down the stretch," Horned Frogs coach Mark Campbell said. "I thought they just out-toughed us today."
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It was the type of performance Lady Raiders coach Krista Gerlich had been searching for. She lamented Wednesday the team didn't "compete" to the level needed to win against a seasoned Iowa State group with the nation's leading scorer. She was looking for her team to deliver in crunch time of a significant contest.
How about a tight ballgame against the frontrunners of the Big 12 on national TV?
"I really have been trying to help them perform in the big moments," Gerlich said, "because there's something to that. It's hard to do that when you haven't done it before. I think the fact that they were able to step up, and so many of them, were able to do certain things in this big moment on this big stage on national TV with 6,200 Lady Raider fans in attendance against a top-15 opponent.
"That's a really big moment. I'm just so grateful that they got to not just experience it, but be successful within it. I think that's gonna really pay dividends for us down the road."
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Gerlich said the season has shown the Lady Raiders have the ability in them — to fight, to make comebacks, to "go blow for blow." She's hoping Sunday is a springboard into doing those on a more-consistent basis as the stakes continue to rise.
Snudda Collins certainly looks to be finding her consistency. For the second time in three games, the Ole Miss transfer scored a career-high 28 points. She had 23 in the second half against TCU, including 15 in the final stanza. With the game tied at 55, Collins delivered a 3-pointer late in the shot clock and Tech (21-3, 8-3) didn't trail again.
Campbell called Collins the "X-factor."
"This isn't the first game that she's played really well like that," Campbell said. "She had our full focus on the scouting report. … Tip of the cap. She made big-time plays, and she's a really good player. She's had a huge impact on the season that they have had."
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Collins alone hasn't changed Tech's fortunes. Transfers such as Gemma Núñez and Jada Malone — who made her first start of the season — have infused new talent as well. Couple that with veteran holdovers in Bailey Maupin and Denae Fritz, and the result has been the most wins of the Gerlich era.
In case a program-record 19-0 start, or the first win at Baylor since 2004, or the first national ranking since 2012 wasn't proof enough, Sunday showed these Lady Raiders are different.
With seven regular-season games to go, Tech already has its most conference wins since 2012-13. And with the confidence from handing TCU its first Big 12 loss in almost a month, the Lady Raiders feel ready to compete with whoever's on the schedule.
"We really don't fear anyone," Gerlich said. "We respect all of them, and we don't feel like there's a game that we can't win. And that's the difference, right? Because in the past, there's been some games that we were just 100% outmatched. We were going to have to play perfect and some things were going to have to go right for us to be in the ballgame and also get a win.
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"But these kids believe in what they're doing. … We're gonna really try to get on a roll right here and take care of business one game at a time and see where it lands."
Texas Tech women's basketball coach Krista Gerlich reacts after a win over TCU in a Big 12 game Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, at United Supermarkets Arena.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech women's basketball shows growth in win over TCU
