When the 1992-93 Texas Tech women’s basketball team gets together, it feels just like the old days.
And it’s always reason for celebration.
The Lady Raiders had another opportunity to gather and relive their magical run over the weekend when the national champions joined Tech’s basketball Ring of Honor prior to Sunday’s game against Arkansas.
And the stories are still good after all these years — like how superstitious the team got during its winning streak, from what color shoes they wore to who they roomed with on road trips.
“A lot of fun stories like that,” Janice (Farris) Legan said. “We’ve kind of gone through all that. Of course, Coach (Linden) Weese is the best storyteller of all times. We went down memory lane Friday night when we got together. Lots of good times, lots of good memories.”
Legan was a junior forward on the 1992-93 team, which topped Ohio State to win Tech’s first national championship in any sport. The group got a champion’s welcome home, first being recognized at the Red Raiders football game Saturday.
Hall of Fame coach Marsha Sharp said that’s when players’ emotions began flooding back.
“They were talking about, when the limos brought us into the stadium, how that felt,” Sharp said of winning it all, “and that they still felt that. They could still feel how they felt that day when that happened. It’s one of those events that you just always have these amazing memories that never go away. I’m just so grateful to them, because they’ve been my memories for a long, long time.”
Those Lady Raiders finished 31-3 after an 84-82 win over Ohio State. National player of the year Sheryl Swoopes scored 47 points in the championship. Sharp said she’s heard any team with Swoopes could’ve won the national title, but she disagrees. The Lady Raiders’ selflessness set them apart.
“The fact that they really felt that way about each other and cared so much about each other and were a real team was something that really separated them from a lot of people they were playing against that year, for sure,” Sharp said. “People have told me a long time that Sheryl could’ve taken anybody to a national championship, but I’ll tell you that I think it takes a special group to play with someone that’s that talented, because you have to be really unselfish, and they were.”
It was only fitting the group was honored together. The Lady Raiders became the first team to be inducted into any sport’s Ring of Honor at Tech.
“Our team, we’re the ones that showed Texas Tech that we can be nationally known,” Krista Gerlich said. “That team ignited Lady Raider nation, in my opinion, and really made women’s basketball across the state and region just explode. … For that team to be recognized, that was the greatest thing that I could have seen happen, because our teammates deserved that. It was our team.”
There was, however, a “void,” Legan said. Teammates Noel Johnson and Michelle Thomas have since died, but they were remembered Sunday.
“I know that they are smiling down upon us right now, for sure,” Gerlich said, “and they’re so proud of Texas Tech for honoring this team. … We always talk about them, because it’s a little bit shocking, to be honest. We’re really not that old, and to have lost two members of our team is a little bit shocking. We just love them so much, and their memory will live on forever as Lady Raiders.”
Gerlich is in the midst of her sixth season as Tech’s head coach. It’s a position Sharp could’ve envisioned — she saw Gerlich’s leadership and basketball IQ during her playing career. Sharp said she’s “really grateful” Gerlich is leading the Lady Raiders and thinks they’re set up for a successful season.
After Tech improved to 5-0 with Sunday’s 80-68 win over Arkansas — its second consecutive over a power-conference opponent — Gerlich thinks so, too. She’s hoping her players can take a lesson from the ’93 squad.
“I preach to my team every single day about that team,” Gerlich said, “and how unselfish they were and how much we all understood our roles. If we can create that type of chemistry and trust amongst one another, we will have elite success.”
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech’s 1993 national champions together forever as first team in Ring of Honor
Reporting by Stephen Garcia, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal / Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
