RUSTON - Kirby Killingworth's off-balance, desperation 25-footer at the 7:27 mark of the first half gave Stephen F. Austin a 22-19 lead over Louisiana Tech and a lot of life.

However, the No. 16 ranked Lady Techsters promptly put a choke hold on the Ladyjacks, holding SFA without a field goal for more than 19 minutes as Tech pulled away for an 80-44 win before 2,910 fans Monday night at the Thomas Assembly Center.

Following Killingworth's heave with the shot clock running down, Tech outscored Stephen F. Austin 49-6 over the next 19 minutes before Kendria Smith ended the drought with a turn around 10 footer with just over eight minutes remaining in the game. However, by then, the Lady Techsters held a 68-30 advantage.

"When our team wants to turn it up a notch they sure know how to do it," said Tech head coach Kurt Budke. "We still have to learn how to play for 40 minutes, and we will. At halftime tonight, I just talked to them. We were missing layups, we were missing free throws, and I really felt like we should have been up 15 to 20. I told them just to stay aggressive and things would start to open up."

On the night Tech held SFA to only 31 percent (13-42) from the field while forcing a season-high 40 turnovers. The 40 turnovers by the Ladyjacks ties for the eighth most in Louisiana Tech history with Ouachita Baptist who recorded the same number during the 1975-76 season.

The Lady Techsters jumped out to an early 9-2 lead before SFA stormed back to take the 22-19 lead on Killingworth's three-pointer. During Stephen F. Austin's 19 minute offensive drought, the Ladyjacks missed all 15 field goals while committing 24 turnovers.

"When we got up (early) our momentum dropped," Smith said. "We got ahead of ourselves and we relaxed which gave them a chance to make some easy buckets. Once we saw they were ready to play and weren't going away, we had to refocus."

Junior forward Trina Frierson sparked Tech offensively, hitting 7 of 8 field goals and 6 of 10 free throws to score a season-high 20 points while grabbing a game-high nine rebounds in 24 minutes.

"It was good to get our there and have fun," Frierson said. "I'm not satisfied. I want to keep pushing, keep pushing. This was a good game for us. This was a very good team, one that has been to the NCAA Tournament every year."

Budke said he was very pleased with the Vicksburg, Miss., native's energy on the floor.

"I thought Trina got us going offensively tonight," Budke said. "We've been talking to the girls about playing with more emotion and supporting each other. Trina is our motivational leader and it is good to see her have success. It definitely gets other players pumped up when they see Trina getting after it."

Erica Smith added 14 points, five assists and a career-high seven steals while Cheryl Ford contributed 11 points and Amber Obaze added 10.

Kim Branch led SFA offensively off the bench with 10 points. The Ladyjacks reserves scored 29 of the 44 points as Stephen F. Austin's starting five hit only 4 of 21 field goal attempts.

Tech returns to action Saturday afternoon when the Lady Techsters travel to face New Mexico at 3:30 p.m.