Big 12 Women: Red Raiders rout Missouri

? Having limited Missouri to 13 points in the first half, Texas Tech coach Marsha Sharp had an easy time telling her team what to focus on during the final 20 minutes.

“At halftime we talked about making sure we could be pleased with our performance for 40 minutes,” she said. “We wanted to play hard and involve as many people as we could.”

The eighth-ranked Raiders did exactly that, thanks in large part to a career-high 32 points from Plenette Pierson in an 84-50 victory Tuesday night.

“It’s hard to put into words,” Missouri coach Cindy Stein said. “I think Texas Tech is an extremely talented team, one of the best teams in the country. But we’re disappointed in our play and in what we demonstrated tonight. Hats off to Texas Tech, though.”

Texas Tech (17-2 overall, 6-1 Big 12) wrapped up the victory in the second half. After Missouri (9-8, 3-3) outscored Tech 10-4 in the first four minutes of the second half to make it 43-23, the Raiders went on a 13-0 run.

Pierson scored eight points in the run while Jolee Ayers, who had season-highs with nine points and 11 rebounds, scored four points.

“I didn’t think about anything else out there,” Pierson said. “I know I may miss a few shots, but I can do other things like passing to my teammates and playing defense for a while. I definitely think I was playing in my own little world out there.”

Missouri never got closer than 27 points the rest of the way.

“You don’t want to get beat like that,” Stein said. “But we have to learn from this and get better. We played a very good team tonight, but I know we’re a better team than we showed.”