Boxscore

HOUSTON ? Louisiana Tech overcame a three-point halftime deficit to down Texas-San Antonio 75-67 Friday night at Autry Court in the first round of the Gene Hackerman Invitational.

With the win Louisiana Tech advances to the championship game of the tournament Saturday night at 7 p.m. against the winner of the Rice/Davidson game.

?There is no doubt we weren?t very strong offensively tonight,? said Tech head coach Chris Long. ?However, we still found a way to win.?

Tech (2-1) hit only 10-of-31 first half field goals and only 9-of-19 first half free throws and found itself trailing the Roadrunners 34-31 entering the halftime locker room.

?In the first half we got good looks, we just didn?t knock down shots,? Long said. ?We missed 10 free throws including a number of front ends of one-and-ones. If we make our free throws in the first half, we would have felt a little more comfortable.?

Tasha Williams and Aarica Ray-Boyd led Louisiana Tech?s comeback in the second half, each scoring 12 of their team-high 15 points over the final 20 minutes. After UTSA scored the first two points of the second half to increase the advantage to 36-31, Tech used an 8-0 run to pull ahead.

Williams? conventional three-point play at the 15:22 mark of the second half gave the Lady Techsters their first lead since the nine minute mark of the opening stanza.

Freshman Eboni Mangum ? making her homecoming in Houston ? hit a three-pointer with 11:21 to play in the second half, capping a 23-7 run and give the Lady Techsters a 54-43 advantage.

The Roadrunners cut the lead down to four with just over two minutes remaining before Williams and Ray-Boyd combined to score Tech?s final nine points and ending any comeback chances for UTSA.

After shooting only 32 percent in the first half, Tech hit 50 percent of its field goals in the second half (15-30) while outscoring the Roadrunners 44-33.

?In the second half we got Tasha some more looks, and we did a better job of pushing the basketball,? Long said. ?When we do that, good things happen. I also thought defensively we locked them down much better in the second half.?

Destiny Brown came off the UTSA bench to lead the Roadrunners with 16 points while Terrie Davis added 14 points and Lacy Mingee scored 13 points.

Saturday night?s championship game of the Gene Hackerman Invitational will be broadcast live on KXKZ-FM 107.5.