Boxscore

RUSTON ? Louisiana Tech overcame an inspired effort by Grambling State and a sluggish first half of play to down the Lady Tigers 84-55 before 4,421 fans at the Thomas Assembly Center Saturday night.

After trailing 35-34 at the half, Tech (4-2) hit 58 percent of its second half shots and outscored Grambling 50-20 to coast to the 29-point victory in the first ever meeting between the two programs located only four miles apart.

Tech led 24-12 at the 9:26 mark of the first half on a Tasha Williams jumper but then the All-America candidate picked up her second foul and sat the rest of the half. With Williams and senior guard Aarica Ray-Boyd both on the bench in foul trouble, Grambling State went on a 23-10 run to close the half and enter the locker room with a one-point lead.

?Coach Long was unhappy (at the half) but we were unhappy with ourselves because we knew we should have been better both offensively and defensively,? Ray-Boyd said.

Tech hit only 39 percent of their field goals in the first half and committed 12 turnovers as Grambling State grabbed the momentum and the lead.

?Fouls got us again early, and tonight the bench did not respond very well in the first half,? Long said. ?In the five previous games the bench has had to play a lot and has responded. Tonight they didn?t. We looked pretty bad in the first half.?

During the 15-minute halftime break, Long had a heart to heart talk with his team.

?We had a pretty frank discussion at the half,? Long said. ?There were several things we didn?t do very well and one was push the basketball. I thought we did a better job in the second half. It was a matter of executing. ?

After Grambling hit the first shot of the second half to built the lead to 38-35, Tech 27-4 run to grab a 62-42 advantage midway through the second half. During the run, Ray-Boyd scored eight of her career-high tying 16 points to ignite the team.

?She has played very, very well,? Long said. ?She is a great shooter but she is playing the best defense of her career at Louisiana Tech right now. I?m as proud of that as I am of her hitting big threes.?

Tech hit 57 percent (19-33) of its field goals in the second half while holding Grambling to only 5-of-26 from the field.

Defensively, the story of the game was Tech?s ability to hold Grambling State?s leading scorer Juleen Smith, who entered the game averaging 21.8 points per game, to only one point while forcing her into 11 turnovers.

?That was our focus for the last two days,? Long said. ?We trapped her on all on-ball screens in order to get the ball out of her hands. The more we could do that the better off we would be. I thought Tasha and Eboni both did a great job on her tonight.?

Mangum led Tech with a career-high 17 points while Ray-Boyd added 16 and Tamika Kursh 10 points.

Sanora Cole led Grambling with 16 points while Dominique Head scored 13 and Lacy Cormier added 12.

The Techsters return to action Tuesday when they host Mississippi State at