Boxscore

RUSTON ? Senior guard Aarica Ray-Boyd scored 19 points and grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds to lead 23rd ranked Louisiana Tech to an 88-54 win over Utah State Saturday night before 3,097 fans at the Thomas Assembly Center.

After hitting only 1-of-10 field goals in the first half en route to three points, Ray-Boyd connected on 6-of-8 second half shots including all four three-pointers helping the Lady Techsters (18-4, 10-1 WAC) to an easy victory.

Senior guard Tasha Williams added 16 points, six assists and five steals and junior guard Shan Moore added 16 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals as Tech won its 109th straight regular season conference game at home.

?I thought we set the tone early defensively,? said Tech head coach Chris Long, who saw his team forced nine Utah State turnovers in the first four minutes of the game while building an 11-0 lead. ?We got out in the passing lanes and we made it hard for them to run their offense. I didn?t feel like we played all that well against them (last week) at their place and I challenged the players before the game to remedy that; they did.?

Moore?s jumper at the 15:21 mark of the first half gave Tech an 11-0 lead before Utah State finally got on the scoreboard on a pair of Ali Marchant free throws with 15:00 to play. The Aggies (2-18, 1-9 WAC) closed the Tech advantage to 21-16 on a Taylor Richard jumper with 8:26 to play in the opening stanza before the Lady Techsters ended the half on a 20-4 run.

Moore, who hit only 2-of-12 shots and committed 10 turnovers in Thursday night?s win, rebounded nicely, scoring 13 of her 16 points in the first half while pacing the Techsters to the 41-20 halftime advantage.

?I thought Shan responded well,? Long said. ?I had a talk with her (after Thursday?s game) and told her not to worry about it. With Eboni (Mangum?s) injury, we asked Shan to play some point for us and that?s something she?s never had to do. I told her to go out and do the best she could. She did that tonight.?

Moore registered only one turnover in 28 minutes Saturday.

Ray-Boyd, who scored a career-high 29 points against Utah State last Saturday, caught fire in the second half, preventing Utah State from mounting any type of comeback.

Tech outscored the Aggies 47-34 in the second half thanks to hitting 53 percent (17-32) of its second half field goals, including all six of its three-pointers.

Utah State committed 24 turnovers while Tech outrebounded the Aggies 46-33, including 19 offensive boards by the Lady Techsters.

Danyelle Snelgro led Utah State with 14 points while Marchant added 10 points.

The 88 points was the most Louisiana Tech has scored in regulation this season.