Boxscore

RENO, Nevada ? Tasha Williams showed why she is the best player in the Western Athletic Conference.

With her team reeling offensively, the Louisiana Tech senior guard put her teammates on her shoulders and led the 16th ranked Lady Techsters to a 63-39 win over seventh seeded New Mexico State in the championship game of the 2006 WAC Tournament.

Williams, who was named the WAC Tournament MVP, scored 19 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out five assists in 35 minutes to lead Tech (26-4) to the win and the program?s 25th straight NCAA Tournament appearance.

?Tasha Williams showed her leadership ability in this game more than any other game of her career,? said Tech head coach Chris Long, who watched his team win its 15th straight game.

With his team leading only 23-17 at the half, Williams had a message for her coach coming out of the locker room.

?She told me, ?Don?t worry, Coach. I got it.??

Williams was true to her word.

The Kingsland, Ark., native, who barely lost out on her second straight WAC Player of the Year honor this year, scored 12 points and registered all five of her assists in the final 20 minutes of play.

?I know this team feeds off my energy,? Williams said. ?I was concerned about the slow start. I knew my team would follow me.?

At one point early in the game with Tech trailing 8-0, the usually reserve Williams turned to her teammates on the floor after a turnover and unleashed a tongue lashing. Her teammates responded ? especially on the defensive end of the floor.

After Aggie forward Jenean Ford hit a shot at the 10:55 mark of the first half to give New Mexico State a 10-3 advantage, Williams and Co. held the Aggies without a field goal until the 17:00 mark of the second half, a drought of 13:55.

New Mexico State was only 4-of-32 from the field in the first half and hit only 22 percent (13-60) from the field for the game.

?We defended well enough when we couldn?t score,? Long said. ?These seniors wouldn?t let us lose. I am proud of this team.?

Long was forced to start the second half of the game without his leading scorer in senior guard Aarica Ray-Boyd, who picked up her third and fourth personal fouls with 0:15 to play in the first half after being called for a charge and then being hit with a technical foul after questioning the call.

However, Ray-Boyd ? who sat the first eight minutes of the second half ? responded, hitting three critical three-pointers down the stretch and ending the game with 15 points.

Shan Moore, who was also named to the all-tournament team, registered her first double double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds while Ty Moore chipped in with 10 points and seven boards.

?We knew coming in we had a tough task with Louisiana Tech having so much experience and tradition,? said New Mexico State head coach Darren Spence. ?This was a tough loss but it was against a very good basketball team.?

Williams set a new WAC Tournament record for field goal percentage, hitting 68 percent (17-25) of her shots. In three games, Williams averaged 18.7 points, 7.0 assists and 2.7 steals.

"She's the best player in this league by far," Spence said. "How she didn't win player of the year of this league, I'll never know. She makes that team go."

Ford and Cecilia Russell-Nava led New Mexico State (10-20) with 10 points each.