Texas Tech women’s player hitched ride with TCU for game in Lubbock

Texas Tech women’s basketball freshman Zuri Sanders played just one minute in the Lady Raider’s 78-69 loss to TCU on Wednesday.

However, thanks to a helping hand from the TCU women’s basketball program, it was one more minute than she would have had otherwise.

TCU had planned to take buses to its Big 12 conference opener in Lubbock, but with winter storms ravaging West Texas, the bus company was forced to cancel the trip out of safety concerns.

Weather issues across the country, including storms in Dallas, made commercial travel for an entire team an improbability.

So, TCU resorted to its final option, booking a chartered plane.

When word got to the Lady Raiders program, they phoned TCU head coach Raegan Pebley to ask for a favor.

Sanders, who hails from Evansville, Ind., had been stranded at DFW International Airport for almost 20 hours after sitting in a plane on the runway for eight hours, trying to return to her team from Christmas break.

She ran out of options to return to Lubbock in time for Wednesday’s game.

Without thinking twice about it, TCU gladly offered the helping hand.

“We said absolutely, we don’t mind,” Pebley said. “I don’t know how you would say no in that situation. I guess the way people reacted like we had done something extraordinary makes me think maybe there are people out there that would say no. I couldn’t imagine how you would.”

Pebley and her staff alerted her players of the situation when Sanders’ name came up in the scouting report the day of departure. Coaches and players alike did whatever they could to make the unheard of transportation situation as natural for Sanders, who had been through a difficult end to her holiday break, Pebley said.

“They were really grateful,” Pebley said. “They were happy to see her and knew she had been through a lot and glad that her whole travel nightmare was over.”

“We were glad to do it and I would really hope and think that anyone else in the Big 12 would have done the same thing if they were in our shoes.”

While in Lubbock, TCU overcame a 15-point deficit in the third quarter to notch its first conference win of the season. The Horned Frogs outscored Tech 21-12 in the fourth quarter, shooting 53.5 percent from the field in the second half while shaking off the rust of a nearly two-week vacation from competition.

“That game at Lubbock, being able to pick up a road win early in conference play, I think that is only going to help our confidence moving forward,” Pebley said.

The Horned Frogs (9-3, 1-0 in Big 12) return to action Saturday for the first Big 12 game to be played in the newly renovated Schollmaier Arena against former TCU head coach Jeff Mittie and Kansas State (10-2, 0-1 in Big 12).

As is the norm for most Mittie-run programs, Kansas State features a strong base 2-3 defense.

Offensively Kansas State runs through junior center Breanna Lewis, who averages 17.3 points per game.

“She is just so efficient,” Pebley said. “She’s finishing really, really well. She does a great job establishing her presence right away and sustaining that throughout the entire game.”

This story was originally published January 1, 2016 at 6:50 PM with the headline "Texas Tech women’s player hitched ride with TCU for game in Lubbock."