MISSOULA, Montana - Louisiana Tech and Texas Tech opened the 2002-03 regular season against each other at the State Farm Hall of Fame Classic in Knoxville.

When the two teams meet Monday night at 10 p.m. CST in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, the game will end this year for one of the two programs, both with aspirations of advancing to the Mideast Regional in Norfolk, Va., next weekend.

Louisiana Tech (28-2), the fifth seed in the Mideast Region, escaped its first round contest against Montana with an 81-77 victory before 7,413 screaming Lady Griz fans. Texas Tech (25-7), the fourth seed, opened the tournament with a hard-fought 60-50 victory against Maine.

"I think today we realize how fortunate we are to sitting here right now," said Tech head coach Kurt Budke during his press conference Sunday afternoon. "If you look at scores from around the country, there are some great teams - some higher seeds - losing on neutral floors. We fought through a lot of adversity last night."

The Lady Techsters dodged a number of potential season-ending bullets against Montana, overcoming an 11-point second half deficit, major foul trouble, sick players and the energized environment of Dahlberg Arena.

Budke and Co. also overcame a poor shooting night by their two Kodak All-American candidates as Amisha Carter and Trina Frierson combined for 6 of 20 from the field.

"I'm totally focused (on tomorrow night)," said Carter, who scored a season-low seven points on 2 of 8 shooting. "I'm going to come out and play my A-game and give it everything I have."

Tech leads the all-time series against Texas Tech 10-2, including last year's 85-76 win in the season opener. When asked if last year's game had any barring on Monday night's game, junior guard Erica Smith-Taylor said no.

"We are both two totally different teams from last year," said Smith-Taylor, who has scored 22 and 29 points in her last two games while hitting 22 of 31 field goals. "We no longer have Cheryl Ford, and they no longer have Plenette Pierson and Jia Perkins. We both have new players who have stepped up that didn't even play last year. This is a totally different game."

During the 12-game series history, the Lady Techsters have posted a pair of victories against the Lady Raiders in the NCAA Tournament; a 94-68 win in 1984 and a 66-55 victory in 1996. Tech also hasn't lost to a current member of the Big 12 Conference since falling to Texas Tech during the 1992-93 regular season (when the Lady Raiders were a member of the Southwest Conference).

Texas Tech head coach Marsha Sharp said that she feels that her team must take care of the basketball Monday night.

"That will be the difference in the game," Sharp said. "If we can make it a half-court game and make some shots, we have a chance. There is no way we can score enough (to win) if we let them take the ball away from us and make easy buckets."

Louisiana Tech is 61-6 all-time against current members of the Big 12 and is 12-0 against current Big 12 members in NCAA Tournament games.

The contest is set for ESPN2. It can also be heard on KXKZ-FM 107.5 and via the Internet at www.z1075fm.com.