Baylor hasn’t played very many close games this year. But the Lady Bears, who have been the unanimous No. 1 team in the country for seven straight weeks, had their hands full Wednesday. In front of its largest home crowd in five years — 12,403 — Texas Tech hung with Baylor but couldn’t upset the top-ranked team two years in a row, falling 72-64 at United Spirit Arena. The loss was the third in a row for the 17th-ranked Lady Raiders after a 14-game winning streak.

Brittney Griner cemented a rivalry between Texas Tech and Baylor two years ago. In a moment that Baylor coach Kim Mulkey described as “ugly for women’s basketball,” Griner punched Tech forward Jordan Barncastle during a March 2010 game in Lubbock. The punch resulted in a broken nose for Barncastle, a two-game suspension for Griner and a great deal of bad blood between the programs and their fans. Both Mulkey and Tech coach Kristy Curry insist the incident is behind them, as does Barncastle, who said Monday that “only the media” still talks about it.

Texas Tech got a glimpse of the top 10 last week. To get back there, the Lady Raiders will have to do more than play like a top-10 team in glimpses. There were stretches during both of Tech’s losses last week in which the Lady Raiders looked very much the part of a national contender, and playing that way for an entire game will be their next challenge. Especially with No. 1 Baylor coming to town Wednesday.

No TV for Baylor Texas Tech’s home game against No. 1 Baylor at 7 p.m. Wednesday will not be televised locally. The game will be webcast on RaiderVision All-Access, and fans can watch it online with a $9.95 subscription fee. David Thetford and David Collier will call the game. The fee for RaiderVision costs more than some tickets for the game. Seats behind the south basket will cost $5 at the door. The game will be televised in Waco on KCEN.