It’s difficult for Krista Gerlich to watch the NCAA Tournament.
The Texas Tech women’s basketball coach entered her fourth season with hopes to be in the field. The Lady Raiders beat three teams in the big dance, a fact Gerlich said showed their potential — when healthy.
A combination of youth and injuries derailed those prospects, the latter part of the reason Tech opted against making a bid to host the Women’s National Invitation Tournament. The ultimate decision was to get a jump on the offseason.
“We certainly want them to heal up, especially after this season,” Gerlich said. “… With (the WNIT) being a third-tier tournament now, we just wanted to be able to concentrate on getting healthy and next year’s team.”
Lady Raiders lose 6 between transfer portal, graduation
Gerlich said Tech did its best to “stick together” during a back-breaking nine-game losing streak to close the Big 12 schedule. She admitted the stretch was rough on the psyche of players and coaches alike.
Jazion Jackson’s departure into the transfer portal added to choppy waters.
Jackson, who transferred from UTEP in the offseason, never suited up for the Lady Raiders. The all-Conference USA point guard ruptured her Achilles in August and entered the portal before Tech’s final game.
Elina Arike, Ashley Chevalier and Saga Ukkonen have joined Jackson in the transfer portal, Gerlich said. Jazmaine Lewis exhausted her eligibility and Rhyle McKinney elected to forgo her final year, bringing the Lady Raiders’ offseason departures to six.
Gerlich said as of Friday all other players have given their word to return to Tech.
“We feel confident that the kids that are on our roster right now are coming back,” she said.
What went wrong for Texas Tech
The adversity came in waves for the Lady Raiders, who started the season 11-0. The first two setbacks, consecutive losses to Tulsa and Oregon State in a Hawaii tournament, were the start. But Tech eased past Houston in its next game for a conference-opening response.
The Lady Raiders showed the same bounce-back resiliency in wins over Kansas and Iowa State — two NCAA Tournament teams. Following a 71-63 victory over the 7-seed Cyclones, Tech traveled to BYU to face a team 1-5 in Big 12 play. The Cougars ran away, 60-46.
Gerlich said she was “really upset” about the loss. She felt it was an opportunity to “stack some wins together,” and she was right. Had the Lady Raiders beaten BYU, they would’ve taken a four-game winning streak into Cincinnati.
Instead, the first meeting against the Bearcats proved to be the start of the slide. Injuries mounted up, too.
Four players missed time for health reasons from Feb. 3 forward, including preferred starters Jordyn Merritt and Kilah Freelon for five and six games, respectively. Wynn and Arike missed games as well, taking away more post options.
The injuries were so debilitating to the roster Gerlich said she had to adjust offensive and defensive philosophies midseason. This is all with a lineup heavy on sophomores and freshmen.
“I thought they tried really, really hard to keep bouncing back,” Gerlich said, “but you could definitely tell that it was weighing on all of us. It was weighing on me because I didn’t feel like I was helping them enough. It was weighing on the girls because they felt like they were disappointing people, themselves, the team, the coaches, the fans. … It was a lot.”
The Lady Raiders went 1-1 in the Big 12 Tournament to finish 17-16 overall.
Looking to 2024-25 season for Texas Tech women’s basketball
Losing Jackson put Tech behind the eight-ball to begin. The Lady Raiders never had a true point guard, although Gerlich praised Bailey Maupin for her effort playing out of position.
Securing a point guard, “and probably more than one,” to avoid another such occurrence is a priority in the transfer portal, Gerlich said. The coach will also seek a “presence in the paint” to play the 5-position and allow 6-foot-5 JoJo Nworie to play the 4. Nworie missed her second consecutive season with a knee injury.
Kalysta “Bird” Martin signed in November and has already enrolled. Martin will be Tech’s only high school signee this class.
Maupin and Jasmine Shavers earned Big 12 honorable mention as sophomores. Freelon and Merritt will also return from Tech’s opening day starting lineup — however far away that seems for Lady Raiders fans.
Next season’s group will look to halt a record drought. Tech’s last NCAA Tournament appearance was in 2013, making this the longest stretch without a berth in program history.
Gerlich said she’s sure there are people “on the outside looking in” who believe the Lady Raiders “aren’t making any progress,” but she vehemently disagreed.
“We’re making tremendous progress,” Gerlich said. “The way we built our roster this last year, I was really proud of, and we saw glimpses. … Our program just isn’t there yet where we could still win with players, Nos. 7, 8, 9 and 10.”
Gerlich said she puts pressure on herself to get Tech back in the NCAA Tournament and eventually competing for a national championship.
“That’s what I came here to do,” Gerlich said, “is to help this program get back to that type of success.”
The coach said the process to get there is ongoing, but she’s confident she has those in-house to get it done.
“Our kids have a great mindset right now,” Gerlich said. “… They certainly are not happy with the way things went. They feel like they’ve got a lot to prove, but they also really have a lot of trust in each other and in our staff to get them where they’re going. It’s part of the process and part of the journey. Unfortunately we took a really big hit with some misfortune this year.”
