RUSTON -
He's currently in a selfish mode ? he doesn't want to share it.

Budke and his sixth-ranked Lady Techsters can keep from sharing the league crown with a victory over Tulsa Saturday night at the Thomas Assembly Center at 7 p.m.

If Tech wins Saturday, it also clinches the No. 1 seed in the upcoming 2004 McCaffrey WAC Tournament set for the Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif., March 9-13. However, a Tech loss combined with a Rice win at SMU would produce co-conference champs and the Lady Techsters would be the No. 2 seed in the WAC Tournament.

"We don't want to share the title with anyone and we talked about that after the Rice game," Budke said, referring to his team's 82-70 victory over the Owls Thursday night. "We still have some business to do. We have to be ready to play because Tulsa is a very good basketball team."

Tulsa (18-9, 11-6), which has lost three conference games by three points and a fourth in overtime, already knows its seeding for the league tournament.

The Golden Hurricane clinched third place in the WAC with its 73-67 win over SMU in Dallas Thursday night. Tulsa trailed by 12 points with just over three minutes remaining before outscoring the Mustangs 21-3 down the stretch and improving to 6-2 in road conference games this season.

"Tulsa is a lot like Rice," Budke said. "They are very balanced and have good depth in the post area. They have one of the better point guards in this conference in Candice Brewer who hurt us the first time we played them. This could be a very similar game to Rice."

Tulsa, who has won four straight games, played toe to toe with the Lady Techsters in the first conference game of the season for both teams before Tech came through late for a 63-60 win on Jan. 3. In that contest the Lady Techsters shot only 29 percent from the field, marking the first time a Tech team shot that poorly and won since the 1994-95 team defeated Oklahoma 48-36 in the NCAA Tournament despite shooting 28 percent.

The Golden Hurricane are led by true freshman Jillian Robbins, who is averaging 12.9 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game from her forward position.

Saturday's contest will also be the final home game for three Lady Techster seniors as Trina Frierson, Amber Obaze and Amisha Carter will hit the Thomas Assembly Center hardwood for one last time.

"I would hope our fans would come out not only to see a good game, but to see those three young ladies play one last time," Budke said. "If for nothing else, out of respect for these three seniors and what they have done for this program. They are three very talented players and our fans need to take the opportunity to watch them one final time."

Tech leads the series with Tulsa 6-0, including a 2-0 mark in Ruston. The game can be heard on KXKZ-FM 107.5 or via the Internet at www.latechsports.com. It can also be seen and heard via the Internet through BullogVision by logging onto www.latechsports.com.