Boxscore

BOWLING GREEN, Kent. ? Tiffany Porter-Talbert and Crystal Kelly combined to score 45 points to lead Western Kentucky to an 80-59 win over Louisiana Tech before 5,563 fans at E.A. Diddle Arena.

Tech led 34-32 at the half but Western Kentucky behind the play of Porter-Talbert and Kelly opened the final 20 minutes with a 27-3 run and never looked back.

?Give Western Kentucky a lot of credit,? said Tech head coach Chris Long. ?They played well. They?re two superstars made plays, especially in the second half. They are a tough one-two punch.?

Kelly hit 8-of-14 field goals and 6-of-9 free throws to score 22 points ? 17 in the second half ? while Porter-Talbert hit 6-of-18 field goals and 11-of-14 free throws to score 23 points.

Louisiana Tech led throughout the first half, never trailing in the opening 20 minutes of the contest. However, major foul trouble forced Long to sit many of his starters for long periods of time and it eventually cost the Lady Techsters.

Tech was whistled for 19 first half fouls and 15 second half fouls while a total of 62 fouls and 80 free throws were shot in the game. The 45 free throw attempts by Western set a Louisiana Tech single game opponent record.

?The officials called it the same both ways but they called it so tight,? Long said. ?It really hurt us. It forced us to use combinations for long periods of time that I wasn?t necessarily comfortable using. We didn?t have a choice.?

Western Kentucky forced Tech into 25 turnovers during the game and only 16 percent shooting (6-38) in the second half.

Reigning Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year Tasha Williams led Tech with 22 points and six steals but was the only double digit scorer for the Lady Techsters.

Tech returns to action Tuesday night when it hosts Iowa at 7 p.m. at the Thomas Assembly Center.