No. 21 Texas Tech didn’t flinch on Sunday.

Not in front of a packed crowd in Lubbock. Not in front of the nation on FS1.

Not when No. 12 TCU made a run to go up six late.
And certainly not in the moments that demanded the most toughness.

Defensive captain Denae Fritz made sure of that.

After forcing a jump ball with TCU star Olivia Miles late in the game, Fritz held the stare for a moment — just long enough to make her point — before smiling, turning to the crowd and calling for more noise inside United Supermarkets Arena from the over 6,000 fans in attendance.

“In my opinion, she’s a badass,” head coach Krista Gerlich said of Fritz. “Sometimes we need somebody that will stand up to the other team and have a little bit about them… but she is super smart, and she’s in the fight and not going to get distracted.”

And on Sunday, the entire team carried that same edge.

“I think this is just Texas Tech Lady Raiders basketball,” senior Snudda Collins, who dropped 28 points in this, said. “We always compete. And like I said, the Kansas game, the BYU game — that just wasn’t us. I think the Utah game and this game definitely shows who we are as a team.”

The Lady Raiders led for just 4 minutes and 36 seconds and battled through six lead changes, yet delivered the final punches behind defensive stops, physical rebounding, and the poise of a team growing increasingly comfortable in high-pressure situations.

And when Texas Tech needed big shots, Collins was more than ready for the moment each and every time.

In fact, TCU head coach Mark Campbell said postgame his team “did not have an answer for Snudda Collins.”

Few teams have lately. Only Snudda Collins can stop Snudda Collins after all.

The senior poured in 28 points as the No. 21 Lady Raiders outlasted the 12th-ranked Horned Frogs, 62–60, on Sunday afternoon to secure their third Top 25 victory, second top-15 win, and push their conference total to eight wins — the program’s most in over a decade.

“Nobody can give Snudda what Snudda has, which is confidence,” Gerlich said. “When she can knock it down from three, that just adds a whole other layer to her game.”

Collins was at the center of the game’s most crucial stretch as well. Trailing by six with 6:40 remaining, TCU appeared ready to deliver the knockout. Instead, Texas Tech got up and swung back.

First, Jalynn Bristow erased a shot at the rim.

For Gerlich, the play represented exactly what she wants from her team in winning time.

“That’s exactly how you respond when you’re not doing things well on the offensive end — you find a way to impact the game elsewhere,” she said.

Moments later, Fritz hit a deep three to pull Texas Tech within three. A shot Gerlich admitted took guts.

“That was off a ball screen she rejected, and she just stepped back and shot it,” Gerlich said. “Probably not a shot that we’ve seen her shoot a lot in that manner, but I just think we had some kids that really stepped up and decided to go win a basketball game.”

Bristow followed by walling up TCU’s 6-foot-7 presence inside before Bailey Maupin rotated down to force a travel.

Timeout.

Out of the break, Sidney Love attacked the paint for a tough layup to cut the deficit to one — not the only time the senior stepped up in a big moment herself in this one.

“We want the moment,” Love said. “We need to show up when the moment is big. And I feel like we did that today.”

The stretch continued with Collins giving Tech a 54–52 lead on an and-one. And Fritz getting a free throw after a tough offensive rebound to push the lead to 55-52. TCU answered with a three to tie it at 55 with 39.6 seconds remaining.

Collins was ready again.

Coming out of the timeout, she drilled a three — on a play that never fully got drawn up, she said postgame — but she knew what her coach wanted. When her window came, she didn’t hesitate.

“I was just in a flow state,” Collins said. “I just love to compete. I love the game of basketball. I love to win for Coach Gerlich and this program and this team. So it just wasn’t really a thought process. I’m just out there playing.”

And in the game’s biggest moments, she played like it. Great defenses, of which TCU is sitting top 10 nationally in points allowed, force tough shots. Collins made them anyway.

With Texas Tech up 58–55 and just over 30 seconds to play, it became about stops. For a program that says defense is its backbone, that is exactly where the Lady Raiders want to be. Collins, along with Fritz, forced future top-five WNBA draft pick Olivia Miles into a fading corner three that missed. Collins secured the rebound, and it became a free-throw battle from there.

Ultimately, the Lady Raiders won. The crowd lost its mind, and the players celebrated with their head coach before heading over to thank the student section and fans.

“When we look at the schedule, we really don’t fear anyone — we respect all of them — but we don’t feel like there’s a game that we can’t win,” Gerlich said.

Gerlich believes her team is beginning to understand exactly what it’s capable of and showing the nation that on FS1 didn’t hurt either.

“These kids believe in what they’re doing,” she said. “I think they are really taking a lot of pride in that they’re one of the top defensive teams in the country… every time you step on the floor, you better be ready for a battle.”

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