Boxscore

RENO, Nevada - Lauren Neaves scored 22 points and pulled down 12 rebounds to lead Rice (24-8) to a 86-66 victory over Louisiana Tech (20-9) in the championship game of the 2005 Western Athletic Conference Tournament Saturday at the Lawlor Events Center.

Leading 36-35 at the half, Rice pulled away in the second half, hitting 5-of-5 three-pointers and 15-of-16 free throws, outscoring Tech 50-31 in the final 20 minutes of play.

With the win Rice snapped Louisiana Tech's 28-game conference tournament winning streak and prevented the Lady Techsters from winning the conference tournament title for the first time since 1995.

The victory also earned Rice the automatic bid to the 2005 NCAA Tournament although Louisiana Tech is still considered a lock to receive an at-large berth. NCAA Tournament pairings will be announced Sunday at 4 p.m. during the Selection Show on ESPN.

"Give Rice a lot of credit," said Tech head coach Kurt Budke. "They played extremely well today, especially in the second half. We knew they would be tough to stop inside but they were consistently knocking down their perimeter shots. If they are able to do that in the NCAA Tournament, they will cause people some problems.

"We didn't shoot as well as we needed to in order to win. Playing three games in four days is never easy, especially when you play as emotional a game as we did yesterday against Fresno State. You could see our kids hit a wall in the second half. That's not excuse; Rice earned this win today."

After Tech took a 37-36 lead to open the second half, Rice used a 13-2 run to take a 49-39 lead at the 15:15 mark of the final period on a conventional three-point play by Neaves. The Lady Techsters closed the gap to 51-48 on a pair of free throws by Erica Taylor with 12:09 remaining but Rice quickly pushed the lead back to double digits at 60-50. Tech would get no closer than seven points the rest of the way.

Neaves was just one of six Lady Owls in double figures as Michelle Woods scored 14 points, Eshombi Singleton 12, Maudess Fulton 12, Krystal Frazier 11 and Amber Cunningham 11.

Erica Taylor and Tasha Crain led Tech with 14 points each and Lakiste Barkus added 12 although Tech hit only 11 of 33 field goals in the second half, including going 0-for-8 from the three-point line.

For the game, Rice hit 7-of-12 three-pointers and 21-of-22 free throws.