10/9/2020 basketball Edit

Coach Krista Gerlich and Lady Raiders off to a fast start

Lady Raider head coach Krista Gerlich with Athletic Director Kirby Hocutt (Texas Tech Athletics / Lady Raider Basketball)

Ben Golan • RedRaiderSports

Staff Writer

Athletic Director Kirby Hocutt named UTA's Krista Gerlich as the new Lady Raider basketball head coach back on August 18th. In less than two months on the job, coach Gerlich and staff have made plenty of waves around the college basketball recruiting landscape, and we recap her first 52 days here.

August 18

Krista Gerlich is officially announced as the new head coach of the Lady Raider Basketball program. She comes over from UT-Arlington, where she compiled a record of 121-94. Overall in her career Gerlich is 289-147 as a head coach, which includes a previous stop at West Texas A&M.

August 20

The first commitment of the Gerlich era comes from 2021 Norman, Oklahoma forward Chantae Embry. Embry had previously narrowed her options down to a top four of Kansas, Kansas State, Texas A&M and Missouri State before the Red Raiders’ new staff came into the picture. In addition she also reported offers from Oklahoma State, LSU, TCU, Colorado, Louisiana Tech, Tulsa, UTEP, Arkansas State, Wichita State, Texas-Arlington, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Nebraska-Omaha, Morgan State, Pennsylvania and Tarleton State.

Embry is rated by ESPN as a 4-star recruit and the No. 67 overall prospect in her class.

After entering their names into the transfer portal earlier in the week, Lady Raiders Lexi Gordon and Chrislyn Carr both withdrew from the portal and elected to stay at Texas Tech. This was a huge win for Gerlich, as Gordon and Carr were the top two returning scorers on the team.

As a junior, Gordon averaged 13 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, while shooting .424% from the field. She was named First Team Academic All-Big 12.

As a sophomore, Carr averaged 13.9 points and 4.0 rebounds per game, while shooting .432 from the field. She was named All-Big 12 Honorable Mention and First Team Academic All-Big 12.

Later on in the evening, Gerlich's daughter, Bryn Gerlich, announced that she would transfer from Oklahoma State to Texas Tech. The younger Gerlich averaged 2.0 points and 0.8 rebounds per game for the Cowgirls. In addition, she was awarded first-team Academic All-Big 12 honors.

As a senior at Colleyville Heritage, Bryn averaged 14.4 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.7 steals and 1.5 assists per game.

September 14

Head coach Krista Gerlich announced her initial staff at Texas Tech. Coming over with Gerlich from UT Arlington are associate head coach JC Carter and assistant coach/recruiting coordinator Ashley Crawford, as well as chief of staff Jared Boyd and director of operations Jordan Vessels. Rounding out the staff is assistant coach Eric Ely, after 10 seasons at Oregon State.

September 24

Another 2021 commitment comes in from Lana Wenger, a 6-foot-4, forward from Hersberg, Switzerland by way of Walnut Creek, CA.

According to her MaxPreps page, Wenger averaged 13.8 points, 11.1 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 2.6 blocks per game as a sophomore in 2018-19.

October 2

After weeks of speculation, Texas Tech officially announces the signing of Oklahoma State transfer Vivian Gray. This is a monster addition on multiple levels. Not only did Gerlich add one of the best players in the Big 12, she directly stole one from a conference foe.

As a junior, Gray averaged 19.3 points and 4.9 rebounds for the Cowgirls while shooting .363 from the field. She received honorable All-American honors from the Associated Press and was named a unanimous All-Big 12 selection for her efforts.

October 7

Chantae Embry, who was Gerlich's first commit at TTU, posts about her Zoom meeting with the Lady Raider coaching staff.

October 8

Saga Ukkonen, a 5-foot-9 guard from Helsinki, Finland, announces on Instagram that she has committed to the Lady Raiders. She is already the third commit for Gerlich in the 2021 class.

October 9

The first commitment of the 2022 class comes from DeSoto guard Michayla Gatewood. Gatewood chose the Red Raiders over reported offers from Houston, Texas, UNT, Abilene Christian, Wichita State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri State and UTEP.

Gatewood is rated by ESPN as a 3-star recruit and the No. 14 guard in her class.

Overall

In addition to the above, Gerlich was able to hold onto freshman signees Khadika Faye, Daija Powell and Khyla Wade-Warren, along with previously announced transfers from Emma Clarke (Colorado) and Najé Murray (San Diego State).

You can see the full Lady Raider Basketball roster HERE.