MEMPHIS ? Two teams that played as many as six times in a single season in the 1970s will face off for the first time in 24 years when Louisiana Tech takes on Northwestern State Friday at 8:30 p.m. in the first round of the Memphis Tournament.
In the first decade of the Lady Techster program?s existence, Tech played Northwestern State 26 times, winning 20 of those games.
However, Friday?s game will be the first between the two programs since an 82-46 win by Tech during the 1983-84 season.
?It?s on a neutral court,? said Tech head coach Chris Long. ?I?m sure both teams are going to be geared up to play each other.
?This tournament is a chance for us to get better as a team. These are two big games for us; chances to get the game experience our team desperately needs. Hopefully, we can do that and get two wins, but it won?t be easy.?
Tech (0-1) is coming off a season-opening loss at Western Kentucky Tuesday night, a game that saw the Lady Techsters build an early double digit lead before falling 87-76 at E.A.Diddle Arena.
In that contest, Tech struggled due to foul trouble and defensive and rebounding lapses, something Long said he hopes to see his team improve on this weekend.
?Improvement,? Long said. ?I?m very interested to see how we come out and play. Offensively, we did some good things (against Western), and I want to see us continue to get better and better in that area. We have to learn to defend better than we did against (WKU) without fouling. We have to play better post defense.?
Offensively, Long was pleased with much of what he saw in his team?s loss Tuesday as Tech shot 48 percent from the field, something the Lady Techsters did just twice all of last year.
Senior guard
Nastassja Levingston led four Tech players in double figures with a career-high 17 points off the bench, while
Whitney Jones (15 points),
Shanavia Dowdell (11 points) and Jo Sneed (10 points) also fueled the Lady Techsters offensive attack.
Northwestern State (2-2) has split their first four games of the year, defeating Arkansas-Monticello and Southern while falling to Xavier and New Orleans.
Brooke Shephard (12.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg) and Tena Matthews (12.0 ppg, 6.7 rpg) lead the Lady Demons in scoring.
The winner of the contest will play the winner between Memphis and Tennessee State in the championship game Saturday at 5:30 p.m. while the two losers will face off in the consolation game at 3 p.m.
The contest can be heard on ESPN 97.7 FM and via the Internet at www.espn977.com with the pre-game show beginning at 8 p.m.
