When asked Saturday what makes this year’s iteration of the Texas Tech women’s basketball team different, coach Krista Gerlich had an understandable response: the players.

Among the newcomers making an impact toward the Lady Raiders’ turnaround is Jada Malone. The 6-foot-3 forward transferred from Texas A&M in the offseason and has proven to be a welcome addition down low.

Malone had one of her best games of the season in the 65-59 loss to Kansas State. She may have earned more opportunities as Tech (19-1, 6-1) enters the heart of Big 12 competition.

Malone scored 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting and went 5-of-5 from the free-throw line. She had one rebound and one assist in 19 minutes, her most playing time since Jan. 3.

“She gave us the inside presence,” Gerlich said. “We knew that we needed more paint touches, just to be able to loosen up the perimeter defenders for us. I thought she did a great job of just being really smart with the basketball, and patient. When she needed to score, she scored. When she needed to pass, she passed. And she defended really well, too.”

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Gerlich said that was a revelation after Malone saw two minutes in the first half for fear of how she’d match up with a guard-heavy Wildcats team.

“We were afraid that they might exploit her a little bit,” Gerlich said, “but we found the right matchup that we needed on defense. I thought that she really did a nice job for us offensively and defensively, to be honest.”

Malone is tied for fourth on the team with 8.0 points per game, while adding 3.5 rebounds, 0.8 assists and 0.5 steals in 15.7 minutes. She shoots a team-high 67% from the field and is a 75.9% free-throw shooter. Malone is a scoring option down low not before seen under Gerlich.

“Certainly this offseason we knew that that was something that we needed to address,” Gerlich said Dec. 3. “That and the point guard position. We went after Jada Malone and knew that she could do exactly what she’s doing for us. She made it perfectly clear of what she was looking for as well. She’s been so bought-in from the word ‘go.’”

The comments came after Malone’s season-high 19-point, 10-rebound outing against Wichita State. She went 9 of 9 on free throws and also posted season-bests in assists (3) and blocks (2).

Malone also drew praise from her teammate that night.

“When they can’t stop her inside, just give her the ball,” guard Denae Fritz said. “And then when they start finally stopping her, she’s really good at giving us the ball on the outside and getting us really good looks and getting us the ball in shooters’ pockets. It’s really fun to play with her.”

Beyond scoring, Malone said she prides herself on that aspect of her offensive game. She added how thankful she is that all the players are on the same page.

“I’ve had teams where our chemistry wasn’t that great,” Malone said. “I was very fortunate to come here and have an amazing team, have everybody be on the same mindset, have the same goals. It has a lot to do with our chemistry off the court, and I think you can tell that on the court as well.”