Boxscore

RUSTON ? Tennessee?s defensive pressure led the fourth-ranked Lady Vols to a 71-50 win over Louisiana Tech before 6,348 fans at the Thomas Assembly Center Tuesday night.

The Lady Vols (6-0) forced 19 first half turnovers en route to building a 42-15 halftime lead as Tennessee won for the seventh straight time in the series.

?Tennessee?s length and athleticism really caused us problems, especially in the first half,? said Tech head coach Chris Long. ?They are so talented. Our kids haven?t played against anything like that this year, and it took us the entire half to adjust.

?If you look at it, most of our turnovers (in the first half) weren?t because of the press. They came in the half court set. I thought we did much better in the second half.?

Tech?s combination of turnovers and poor shooting (6-of-28) in the first 20 minutes of play were simply too much to overcome as Tennessee jumped out to an early lead and never looked back.

Tennessee sophomore Candace Parker, who registered 10 points, 8 rebounds, 7 blocks, 2 steals and 2 assists in 25 minutes of action, led the Tennessee defensive charge, recording five of the blocked shots in the first half.

Even when the Lady Vols weren?t blocking shots ? they totaled 10 for the game ? they were forcing altered shots as Tech hit only 30 percent of their field goals (18-of-61) for the game.

?They blocked some shots early and it got into our heads a little,? Long said. ?They had 6-foot-3 guarding us on the perimeter. We got better tonight despite the loss. We won?t face too many more teams with their size and athleticism the rest of the year.?

Down 42-15 at the half, the Lady Techsters came out and outscored Tennessee 35-29 over the final 20 minutes of action. Long said it was because his team refused to quit.

?The kids rallied together in the locker room and came out and competed despite the score,? Long said. ?You don?t outrebound Tennessee like we did without great effort. The effort was there. We have to get better at executing.?

Tech outrebounded Tennessee 46-37, including pulling down 23 offensive rebounds.

Amber Metoyer led Tech with 13 points and nine rebounds while Shan Moore and Jo Sneed each added 12 points.

Dominique Redding led UT with 13 points, while Alberta Auguste added 11 and Parker and Sidney Spencer each scored 10.

Tech returns to action Sunday when the Lady Techsters face Arizona at 2 p.m. in Tuscon.