Vivian Gray should be 'OK' as Texas Tech Lady Raiders host Texas State
Vivian Gray returned to the court and provided a spark of playmaking.
The senior guard scored 16 points off the bench, but came up clutch when the Lady Raiders needed a go-to scorer toward the end of regulation against Lamar last Friday.
After she called timeout with the Texas Tech trailing 62-60, Texas Tech coach Krista Gerlich admitted there was one player she was trying to get the ball.
Her three-time All-America selection.
After breaking from the timeout, Gray found her spot near the low block before demanding the ball. Inbound passer Taytum Veitenheimer admitted to Gerlich after the game that she was unable to see over the defender, but got it above the arms and to Gray.
"Taytum was definitely going to her, and she knew that's who need the basketball in her hands," Gerlich said.
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From there, the 6-foot-1 guard corralled near the basket, dribbled and banked in a layup to knot things up at 62-62 before time expired.
"We wanted to give it to her off a rep screen, so that she could turn and face the basket — maybe have her defense behind her so that if she couldn't get to the basket, ... She would have Rhyle (McKinney) in the corner on the backside," Gerlich said of the situation and play call to end regulation. "But, because they switched it and made it so difficult to get it in, she turned and posted which I thought was obviously great. ... I thought they all executed well."
From there, Gray netted six points in the extra period, while McKinney made a jumper to provide Texas Tech the lead en route to putting away the Cardinals who shot 13-for-28 from the three-point line.
"I give it to my teammates, they were giving me a lot of confidence because I was missing a lot of shots in the first half that I wanted to make," said McKinney, who finished with 14 points. "So it was pretty frustrating, but I just looked at them and they were giving the ball at the right time."
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Before the game ended, Gray leapt for a rebound and appeared to turn her right ankle as she landed on a defender's foot. She was able to get helped up to her feet by teammates and split a pair of free throws with six seconds to play.
"It's OK, my X-rays clear," Gray said when asked of her injury. "Doing OK."
That's a good sign from Gray, who had two ice packs on both of her ankles. Her status will be unknown until 7 p.m. Monday when Texas Tech hosts Texas State in the final contest of a four-game homestand at United Supermarkets Arena.
In three starts, Da'Nasia Hood is netting 15.7 points and six rebounds per game. Ja'Kayla Bowie and Lauryn Thompson are averaging 9.3 points per contest, apiece.
But one thing is for sure, Gray will do everything she can to get back on the floor. And she will do anything to win — a characteristic that showed in the previous triumph.
"I thought that Vivian showed a lot of courage down the stretch, particularly in overtime," Gerlich said Friday following the 72-68 victory. "But, absolutely to get us to overtime on her first game back. You saw Vivian Gray do some All-American things in this game."
TEXAS TECH VS. TEXAS STATE
When: 7 p.m. Monday
Where: United Supermarkets Arena
Records: Texas Tech 3-0, Texas State 2-1
Online stream: ESPN+
Radio: FM 107.7
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Vivian Gray should be 'OK' as Texas Tech Lady Raiders host Texas State
