Boxscore

RUSTON - Two nights after one of the most disappointing performances by a Louisiana Tech team in many years, the Lady Techsters responded with a gutsy effort that fell a little short.

Tennessee freshman guard Alexis Hornbuckle scored seven of her game-high 17 points during a critical second half stretch to lead the Lady Vols to a 70-59 win over Louisiana Tech Wednesday night before 6,612 fans at the Thomas Assembly Center.

The loss came just 48 hours after a one-point victory over Alcorn State in a contest that head coach Kurt Budke said his team didn't come mentally ready to play.

"Our kids showed a lot of heart, toughness and guts tonight," Budke said. "Maybe we've lacked that sometimes this year."

After Tech (4-3) fought back from a 12-point second half deficit to cut the UT advantage to 57-52 on a Lakiste Barkus three-pointer at the 6:33 mark of the final half, Hornbuckle stepped up and carried the Lady Vols home.

On the first offensive possession following Barkus' trey, Hornbuckle banked home an off-balance, high-arching 15-footer over two Tech defenders, drew the foul and completed the conventional three-point play to up the lead to 60-52 and take all of the momentum and energy away from the home crowd.

By the time Hornbuckle finished her seven-point spree, Tennessee had regained a double digit lead and time was not on Tech's side.

Despite the loss by the Techsters, head coach Kurt Budke was pleased with his team.

"I'm very proud of our effort," Budke said. "I've never been big on moral victories but that might be the case with this game. We can definitely learn and grow from it."

Louisiana Tech held a three-point lead at 27-24 on a Tamika Kursh jumper at the 4:21 mark of the first half, before Tennessee finished the half on an 11-1 run to enter the locker room up 35-28. The Lady Vols scored five points on two consecutive possessions during the run where they pulled down offensive rebounds and consequently scored.

"It seemed like every time we made a mistake tonight, Tennessee made us pay for it," Budke said. "We made mistakes when we got tired. I think you saw a team grow up a lot tonight and take a step forward."

Tennessee came out in the second half and quickly upped the advantage to 12 points as the Techsters were forced to play catch up the remainder of the game.

"I wouldn't say we were pleased because you always want to win but we did give our best," said junior guard Tasha Crain. "We wanted to come out tonight and show that we can play with anyone."

Crain led Tech with 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists while Shan Moore added 14 points and Barkus chipped in with 12 points.

The much smaller Techsters battled all night long on the boards and although Tennessee outrebounded Tech 39-33, the Techsters held the Lady Vols to only 13 offensive boards.

Shanna Zolman added 15 points for Tennessee (6-2).

Tech returns to action Saturday when it plays Oklahoma at 6 p.m. in the Nike Classic in Eugene, Oregon.