Every good thing must come to an end, and it was that day for Texas Tech on Saturday. The Lady Raiders suffered their first loss of the year on Saturday, ending their 19-game winning streak. But was it an accident? Certainly not!

The 65-59 loss came against Kansas State, which makes it feel far from coincidental. The Wildcats are 32–17 all-time against the Raiders, including 19 wins in their last 24 meetings. Losing to an arch-rival in a home game wasn’t an easy one to digest for the Raiders, especially entering the game with an undefeated record.

“They were very disappointed, as I knew they would be, but we’ve talked about that,” head coach Krista Gerlich told reporters in the post-game presser. “We’ve talked about if they give all of their effort, if they give all of their focus, and they play the hardest that they can, then if you lose, you lose, and then you try to figure out a different way.”

The head coach made it clear she isn’t dwelling on the setback, sending a strong locker-room message in the process. “There’s no good loss, in my opinion,” she said. “Whether you’re on a streak or not, we’ve got to have that mentality of the next game, we’re winning it, and it doesn’t matter what we’ve done in the past. What I’m most interested to see is how we respond.”

Well, preparation for the response will have to start on the defensive end. The Lady Raiders’ defensive miscommunications played a major role in the loss, especially in the last quarter of regulation. The Wildcasts put 23 points against the Raiders’ 15 in the fourth quarter. Even worse, the Wildcats outscored them 8-1 in the last  2 minutes, 23 seconds. 

The Raiders’ coach also sent an early warning to her players about the defensive glitches.

“But it can’t be because we didn’t play together, or we didn’t play hard, or we didn’t give any effort,” she added. “I’m not taking anything away from K-State. They went after us, there’s no doubt they went after us. And our kids have to know how to respond to that. And I just don’t think we did that necessarily.”

She pointed out that even when the focus was on defensive assignments, the team still lost track of shooters despite knowing exactly what Kansas State was going to do. “And so it’s just frustrating. … But it’s just another example of, in the Big 12, you better show up every single day, because anybody can beat anybody,” the HC said. 

However, more than anything, it was the rebounding that played a big part in the Wildcats dominating the mental and statistical edge over their opponents. It exposed a vulnerable area of Gerlich’s team.

Krista Gerlich addresses Texas Tech’s rebounding concerns

Kansas State attacked Texas Tech’s most vulnerable part, their rebounding. The guests out-rebounded the hosts by a wild 46-20 margin. The dominance on the glass on both ends included a 17-3 pounding on the offensive glass. The Wildcats also outscored the Raiders by twice (28-14) in the points in the paint. 

This was one area where Gerlich has consistently shown concerns this year. However, unlike last season, when she didn’t shy away from calling her team out, she took a milder approach. While she reiterated the importance of cleaning the glass on a nightly basis, she also expressed confidence in the team’s ability to fix those issues moving forward.

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“To me, that is fixable,” Gerlich said. “We can absolutely fix that, and I know our kids will. But you know, moving forward, it’s just gonna have to be an emphasis because there’s no doubt that people will see that stat and they will absolutely crash the boards on us.”

With less than five minutes remaining in the game, Kansas State grabbed its first lead of the quarter and never trailed again. Texas remained close with a chance to win the game behind Bailey Maupin and Jada Malone. However, the late possessions saw turnovers from the hosts, and Kansas State dominated the offensive glass to take the Raiders out of the game and break their flawless record. 

But what’s done is done. With even tougher matchups awaiting Texas Tech next, the hope is that they address these key issues before then and respond the right way.