Oklahoma's Ashley Paris, left, and Texas Tech's Dominic Seals fight for a rebound during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Lubbock, Texas, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009. (AP Photo/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Geoffrey McAllister)

The Sooners almost gave away their unbeaten Big 12 record Tuesday night when they narrowly beat Texas Tech 80-72.

The Lady Raiders came out firing and took a quick six-point advantage over a surprised OU team.

The Sooners went to the bench early, bringing in sophomore guard Carlee Roethlisburger for senior forward Ashley Paris and OU’s offense finally found rhythm.

Despite getting higher-quality shots, the Sooners still left Texas Tech wide open outside and under the basket.

The Sooners shot 52 percent in the first half but did not do themselves any favors by committing careless turnovers and giving Tech multiple opportunities to build a lead.

Senior center Courtney Paris found success under the basket with 8 points on 4-5 shooting early on.

The Sooners grabbed the lead midway through the first half when they went up 23-21, but Texas Tech regained the lead soon after.

Tech dictated the tempo throughout the rest of the first half and took the Sooners into the locker room with a 37-33 lead.

The deficit didn’t appear to inspire the Sooners as they came out of the locker room doing much of what they did in the first half.

The Lady Raiders pushed their lead even further in the second half to 47-39.

The Sooners still had nobody step up as a leader at this point of the game. Shots that normally went down were not falling and OU could not play catch up on the defensive end, either.

Crisp and efficient passing has typically been a staple of the OU offense, but against Texas Tech the Sooners fell apart.

Lady Raider junior guard Jordan Murphree rained down jump shots, scoring 25 points and stalling any comeback OU tried to put together.

The Sooners finally got their feet underneath them and OU’s luck began to change.

With around five minutes left, the Sooners put a run together and slowly got back into the game.

OU eventually took the lead from Texas Tech and continued fighting back. The Lady Raiders failed to score on their final few possessions of the game.

The Sooners managed to hold off Texas Tech and steal the game on the road.

The Lady Raiders played the better game for the majority of the contest but let the Sooners get the best of them in the end.

Courtney put up some familiar statistics, finishing the game with 23 points and 19 rebounds.

Sophomore guard Danielle Robinson and Ashley both finished the game in double figures with 16 and 13 points respectively.

The Sooners will look to rebound from Tuesday’s close call and get ready to host Baylor Saturday at 2 p.m.