MIAMI - When Louisiana Tech saw a comfortable 16-point advantage dwindle to one with just over four minutes remaining against Florida International, the sixth-ranked Lady Techsters listened to their hearts and not their minds.
"We just told ourselves we had to keep going," said junior guard Brooke Lassiter, who led Tech with eight assists and four steals. "We knew we were 15-0, and we had tomorrow to rest. We just decided to leave everything we had left on the floor."
A physically tired Tech team, which had endured a 17-hour trip from Ruston to Miami Friday, did just that and left the floor of the Golden Panther Arena 70-63 winners in the regular season finale improving to 25-4 overall, 16-0 in the Sun Belt Conference East Division.
Leading 58-57 with 4:43 remaining Tech would not be denied its 52nd consecutive SBC regular season win, outscoring the Golden Panthers 10-0 over the next four minutes to grab a 68-57 lead with only :22 remaining.
Ayana Walker, who was double and triple teamed much of the night, was held scoreless in the first 17 minutes of the second half before coming up big in the final run. With Tech leading 60-57 with just under three minutes remaining, Walker scored on an offensive rebound and put back and then converted a three-point play on Tech's next possession.
"It was hard for me to stay focused in the second half," said Walker, who ended the night with 12 points and eight rebounds. "The coaches kept telling me to hang in there. I was frustrated. Florida International had a great game plan. I just concentrated on rebounding and defense and managed to make a couple of big offensive plays at the end."
Takeisha Lewis led five players in double figure as the junior center scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for her ninth double double of the season. Essence Perry and Cheryl Ford joined Walker with 12 points, while Lassiter added 10.
"People should be so proud of this team," said Tech Associate Head Coach Kurt Budke. "They went through so much the last two days and to give this kind of effort is incredible. This win ranks up there with our win over Purdue (in the finals of the Preseason WNIT) because of what this team endured yesterday."
Tech and FIU traded punches early in the contest and were knotted up at 12-12 with 13:42 remaining in the game. However, the Lady Techsters went on a 20-10 run to grab a 32-22 lead before entering the halftime locker room up 36-27.
"We talked at the half about coming out in the second half and taking it to them early," Budke said. "We did just that ... but then you could see our legs starting to go a little bit. We finished the game with heart."
Mandy Shafer led FIU with 16 points off the bench, while Gergana Slavtcheva added 14 points, but only hit on 3 of 18 shots from the field.
The Lady Techsters outrebounded the Golden Panthers 44-36 in a battle of two of the top 5 teams in the country in rebounding margin.
Tech, which had already wrapped up its ninth straight SBC regular season title last week, will enter the conference tournament as the No. 1 seed out of the East, while FIU will be the No. 2 seed.
