Texas Tech women's basketball never took the lead in a 74-56 road loss to Cincinnati on Saturday.
The Lady Raiders (16-7, 5-5 conference) got within one point in the fourth quarter, but the Bearcats opened with a 14-0 run and were nearly shut out.
Cincinnati (11-10, 3-7) outscored Tech 24-7 in the final 10 minutes.
Texas Tech gets hammered by the boards in transition.
Cincinnati enjoyed a 43-26 rebounding advantage, including 21 offensive boards. This resulted in 23 second-chance points and helped the team reach 44 points in the paint.
The Bearcats had 23 fast-break points, including 11 in the first half. Cincinnati took advantage of the transition game to build a 20-9 lead after 10 minutes.
The Bearcats trailed by 15 points early in the second quarter, but Tech got back within five points. This was a foreshadowing of what was to come, as the Lady Raiders ran to the basket but were unable to sustain it.
Lady Raiders struggle on offense
Jasmine Shavers scored a game-high 21 points on 6-of-13 shooting, but as a team, Tech never got going.
The Lady Raiders attempted 26 3-pointers against Cincinnati's zone defense. This accounted for half of Tech's shots from the field. The team as a whole was 19 of 52 (36.5%) and 8 of 26 (30.8%) from 3-point range.
The Lady Raiders also committed 19 turnovers, leading to 23 points for Cincinnati.
Bailey Maupin (2 of 10 points) and Rohan Johnson (4 of 8 points) each had nine points, followed by Jada Wynn (3 of 9 points) with eight points.
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As a result, Tech falls to 1-4 on the road in Big 12 play. Half of those games were against bottom-five teams in the conference, BYU and Cincinnati, each with seven losses in the Big 12.
Only the top four teams in the conference have winning road records in Big 12 play. The bottom five teams are a combined 0-24.
The Lady Raiders are 2-2 in neutral games and 13-1 at home. They return to action at West Virginia on Tuesday, then return to United Supermarket Arena to take on last-place UCF next Saturday.
