No. 7 Texas Tech (women's) 80, No. 23 Oklahoma 71

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) _ If Erin Grant's play is any indication, then the future looks bright for the Texas Tech women's basketball team. <br><br>Grant, a freshman, had 16 points on 5-of-6 shooting

Thursday, January 16th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) _ If Erin Grant's play is any indication, then the future looks bright for the Texas Tech women's basketball team.

Grant, a freshman, had 16 points on 5-of-6 shooting Wednesday night as the 7th-ranked Lady Raiders beat No. 23 Oklahoma 80-71.

``I don't think any of us ever think of her being a freshman anymore,'' said coach Marsha Sharp, whose team won its 14th straight and ended a five-game losing streak against Oklahoma. ``She's really a big key to what we're doing.''

The Lady Raiders (14-1, 3-0 Big 12) have just two seniors on the roster and one in the starting lineup. The senior starter, Plenette Pierson, scored 18. All five starters finished in double figures.

``We need to be balanced,'' Sharp said. ``I think it's hard to pick on us that way, and I hope we can continue to do that.''

Grant and fellow guard Jia Perkins (13 points, 4 assists) were quicker than Oklahoma's perimeter players. The 6-foot-2 Pierson, 6-5 Cisti Greenwalt and 6-1 freshman reserve LaToya Davis proved to be too big inside.

Oklahoma (10-5, 1-1) fell into an 8-0 hole in the first few minutes and never got out of it. The Sooners committed seven of their 17 turnovers in the first eight minutes and had to play catchup all night.

``We had a few slips, and every time we slipped they made us pay,'' coach Sherri Coale said. ``That's what great teams do. They're not ranked No. 7 in the country for nothing.''

Oklahoma saw a 15-game conference home winning streak end. The Sooners' last Big 12 home loss was 81-79 to Iowa State on Jan. 6, 2001.

Oklahoma reached the NCAA title game a year ago, but lost four starters from that team. The rebuilding has been hampered by bad luck _ four players, including top returner Caton Hill, have suffered season-ending knee injuries.

``When you look at the players they graduated last year and what they've gone through this year, it's incredible the job they're doing,'' Sharp said.

The Sooners didn't have enough answers for Tech.

Greenwalt scored three consecutive baskets inside to help the Lady Raiders build the quick 8-0 lead. Oklahoma went on a 6-0 run of its own, but Tech pushed the lead to 17-11 on a 3-pointer by Natalie Ritchie. After Oklahoma got within 19-17 at the 8:39 mark, Tech scored seven straight to build a comfortable lead again.

Grant scored eight of Tech's final nine points of the half as the Lady Raiders took a 40-29 lead.

``In the first half I thought I had an opportunity to score because they were backing off me a little bit and we couldn't get the ball inside the way we wanted to,'' Grant said. ``I tried to take a couple shots, tried to open things up.''

The score was 49-39 when the Lady Raiders scored five in a row to make it a 15-point cushion with 12:32 left in the second half. Oklahoma got no closer than eight after that.

``We didn't shoot a great percentage in some individual spots tonight, but I thought we battled and made some plays when we needed to,'' Sharp said.

Maria Villarroel had 20 points and nine rebounds and Theresa Schuknecht scored 15 for Oklahoma.

The Sooners committed 17 turnovers and shot just 37.5% in falling to 0-4 against top-10 teams this season. Even so, Coale was encouraged.

``I thought that performance by this really young team that's faced everything we've faced this year is pretty darn good and we'll get better from here,'' she said.