RUSTON - Erica Smith scored a career-high 23 points and Cheryl Ford added 15 points and a career-high 20 rebounds to lead 11th ranked Louisiana Tech to a 75-62 win over Tulsa Saturday night before 3,284 fans at the Thomas Assembly Center.

The win by Tech propelled the Lady Techsters (13-2, 6-0) into sole possession of first place in the Western Athletic Conference while Tulsa (10-7, 5-1) dropped its first league game of the year.

"We thought it would be a tough game, and it was," said Tech head coach Kurt Budke. "Tulsa has proven they are a very good basketball team, and they didn't back down. I thought we did a nice job of coming out in the second half and doing what we had to do to win."

Tulsa used a big first half by senior guard Allison Curtin, who entered the game as the league's top scorer, as the transfer scored 18 first stanza points to give the Golden Hurricane at 39-35 halftime advantage. However, Tech did a much better job defensively in the second half, limiting Curtin to only eight points on two of eight shooting.

"Curtin is one of the better guards in this country," Budke said. "She can play. I told everyone she could play and she did. I was very proud of our defensive effort in the second half."

Smith, whose previous career-high was 19 points, ignited the Tech second half comeback. With the Lady Techsters leading 52-50 at the 10:47 mark of the game, Smith hit back to back three-pointers and then fed Amber Obaze for an easy lay up for a 60-52 lead.

"Erica has been struggling offensively, and she knows she has been struggling offensively," Budke said. "She has been putting in a lot of time and shots after practice and we knew she was going to break out of it. She picked a good night."

After Tulsa hit two free throws, junior guard Amber Obaze connected on a three-pointer and the Golden Hurricane would get no closer than eight points the rest of the way.

For the second straight game, Tech started out strong, building an early 9-0 lead less than three minutes into the contest. However, Tulsa answered with its own 9-0 run and the two teams exchanged the lead 11 times before the halftime buzzer sounded with the Golden Hurricane leading 39-35.

"The worst thing we could have done was jump out so quickly," Budke quipped in the post game interview. "I turned to Christie Sides on the bench and said I don't like this, and before we knew it, it was 9-9."

Tech outrebounded Tulsa 58-35 for the game with Ford's 20 and Amisha Carter's 12 boards leading the way.

The Lady Techsters return to action Saturday night when they host Rice at 7 p.m.