Boxscore

RUSTON - Louisiana Tech needed a wake up call Thursday night and head coach Kurt Budke provided it in a unique way.

With the Lady Techsters leading Boise State only 50-39 with 15:50 remaining in the game, Budke awoke the entire Thomas Assembly Center crowd and his players when he was hit with a technical foul arguing an offensive foul called against Trina Frierson.

Budke's emotional tirade was exactly what his team needed as it responded by turning up the defensive pressure and outscoring the Broncos 45-18 the rest of the way en route to a 95-57 victory.

"It seemed like the crowd got into it a little more, the band starting playing a little louder and our energy jumped up a little bit," Budke said. "We definitely looked like a different team."

Immediately following the technical, the Techsters (14-2, 7-1 WAC) steadily pulled away behind their full court pressure that forced a season-high 38 turnovers. The lead quickly ballooned to 63-43 at the 9:53 mark of the game and eventually rose to as big as 43 at 94-51 with 2:05 remaining.

"That was the turning point of the game," said junior guard Erica Smith-Taylor. "We hate for him to get upset. It did a lot for us. Got us pumped up and gave us a little boost."

Budke had plenty to be upset about, especially the lackadaisical play of his team during the opening 20 minutes of the contest. Boise State (6-11, 3-5) came out strong and never looked intimidated as the Broncos hung tough, trailing only 37-32 at the half. When Boise State opened the second half with a three-pointer and cut the Tech advantage to only two, the Assembly Center crowd was in shock.

However, Tech responded with an 11-0 run to reopen a 13-point advantage and after trading a couple of buckets, Budke was assessed the technical and the 3,826 fans in attendance and 11 Techster players were in full frenzy.

"Without question, I think that is when Tech went on a run, with a lot of emotion and a lot of intensity that they had not played with to that point of the game," said Boise State head coach Jen Warden.

Tech used its full court press almost the entire second half, forcing 21 second half turnovers leading to a number of easy buckets for the Lady Techsters as Tech also recorded a season-best 24 steals, including six by Smith-Taylor and five by Tasha Crain.

"Being active on defense and getting after the other team is my type of game," said sophomore guard Tasha Crain.

Senior forward Amisha Carter led Tech offensively with 23 points while Amber Obaze added 17, Trina Frierson 16, Shan Moore 12, Smith-Taylor 11 and Crain 10.

Tech hit 51 percent (37-72) of its field goals, including 64 percent (21-33) in a second half that saw the Lady Techsters outscore Boise State 58-25.

Jamie Hawkins led Boise State with 15 points and nine rebounds.