The Texas Tech women’s basketball team doesn’t seem to need any reinforcements, but they have a pretty significant player potentially on the way.
The 17th-ranked Lady Raiders moved to 19-0 on the season by withstanding a game Houston squad 71-59 Tuesday night, Jan. 13 in United Supermarkets Arena. The victory ties the program record for the longest winning streak in program history (19 games) and also ties the team’s best record to open Big 12 Conference play (6-0). Each of those records can fall this Saturday when they host Kansas State.
While the players currently on the court have found great success, there’s still a big question of whether the Lady Raiders will be able to put 7-foot-1 mid-year enrollee Stephanie Okechukwu on the floor anytime soon. Okechukwu signed with the team in October, joined the team in early January and has been awaiting her eligibility ruling from the NCAA.
Head coach Krista Gerlich said the NCAA is “not dragging their feet” with the decision, even if it may appear to be the case.
“We’re having to kind of do a little bit of a deeper dive to get her eligibility,” Gerlich said after the win over Houston. “We just don’t want to make any mistakes because for her to play with this team this year, if we make any mistakes, it affects this team, so we want to just make sure that everything’s in line.
“She definitely will be playing at Texas Tech. I can tell you that. We just don’t know the timeline.”
At question, Gerlich said, is how many years of eligibility Okechukwu would have as a 21-year-old, first-year college student. This requires another look at her academic transcripts. Having not played at the NCAA level yet, the Nigerian should feasibly have four years to play with the Lady Raiders once cleared.
“We know that she has four (years) available,” Gerlich said, “and we just want to make sure that we get all four of those.”
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: When will Stephanie Okechukwu become eligible to play for Texas Tech?
Reporting by Nathan Giese, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal / Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
