A year ago, the Texas Tech Red Raiders won 18 games.
After knocking off Baylor on Saturday, Texas Tech not only surpassed last year's win total, but also turned in so far the biggest upset in women's college basketball this year.
Baylor came into the contest as the No. 1 ranked team in the country, but with the 56-45 loss to the Red Raiders, the Bears dropped to No. 3.
After the win, Texas Tech fans, most of them who were wearing pink, stormed to the court to celebrate the Red Raiders' biggest win of the season.
"Well, I wish I could hug every one of them," Texas Tech coach Kristy Curry said on Saturday in the Texas Tech Daily Toreador. "The crowd was incredible. Between the crowd and these kids and for it to be our think pink game, everything that was represented today was a tradition-rich women's basketball program."
The win over the Bears extended Texas Tech's win to three games. The Red Raiders couldn't extend it to four as they lost to Texas A&M 84-60 on the road.
Still, with a 19-8 record, Texas Tech still has hopes of reaching the NCAA tournament for the first time in six years. The Red Raiders have three regular season games remaining, including a home game on Saturday against Oklahoma State.
Texas Tech's women's basketball program has a rich tradition. The Red Raiders reached the NCAA tournament 18 times and won a national championship in 1993.
Curry replaced Marsha Sharp as Texas Tech coach in 2006. Before she headed to Lubbock, Curry had an outstanding coaching career at Purdue, heading the Boilermakers to seven NCAA tournament appearances -- including a runner-up finish in 2001 -- in her seven years as head coach.
But Texas Tech has yet to make an NCAA tournament appearance in Curry's tenure. After going 15-16 in Curry's first season, Texas Tech is guaranteed to finish with its fourth consecutive winning season. Last year, the Red Raiders finished 18-15 and were eliminated in the WNIT second round. Curry is 85-70 in her five seasons as Texas Tech coach.
In order to guarantee an NCAA appearance, the Red Raiders have to make sure they finish strong in the final weeks of the regular season. As of Monday, Texas Tech's RPI is No. 27.
A win on Saturday will give Texas Tech its first 20-win season in six years. The Red Raiders lost to Oklahoma State 62-52 in the last meeting on Feb. 9 on the road.
Texas Tech started its season by winning its first eight games. After beginning their Big 12 season at 3-0, the Red Raiders hit a slump, losing six games in a row. But Texas Tech bounced back with a three-game winning streak, including the win over Baylor. Curry celebrated her first win over Baylor as head coach.
Even though they beat a pair of ranked teams last week (Texas Tech also beat Iowa State on Feb. 16), the Red Raiders came up 20 points short of getting into the top 25.
If Texas Tech make it to the NCAAs, it would be a nice ending for the team's only senior, Teena Wickett. Wickett is playing basketball again this year after a two-year hiatus. She played two years at Pepperdine.
After 27 games, Wickett is Texas Tech's second-leading scorer at 10 points per game. She earned Big 12 Player of the Week honors in late December. Junior Kierra Mallard, who was selected as the Big 12's Player of the Week this week, leads the Red Raiders at 12.7 points per game.
Big jump: DePaul and Marist tied for the biggest jump among the top 25 schools this week. Each team moved up three places from last week's polls.
DePaul is ranked No. 7 after beating Rutgers and Georgetown last week. The Blue Demons improved to 25-3 after beating Georgetown 82-57.
"Everybody plays a different style and (Georgetown's) system is a really good, it's a solid system," DePaul coach Doug Bruno said in the DePaulia on Monday. "And I thought we were ready for it, but then we were tentative in the first half. We had seven turnovers the first half and we really, at that 6-6 point, we really could've probably broken it open a little bit sooner than that, but we were giving them the ball back. And I just thought our players had to feel their way through it and feel their way through the pressure."
Marist is now ranked No. 21 after beating Canisius and Manhattan last week. The Red Foxes improved to 25-2 with a 79-38 win over St. Peter's on Monday. They'll play Siena on Friday and Fairfield on Sunday.
Welcome back, Dawgs: Georgia is back in the top 25 after beating Kentucky last week. The Bulldogs are No. 22.
Georgia is now 20-7 after losing to Tennessee 77-44 on Monday. The Bulldogs play Auburn on Thursday and Florida on Sunday.
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