Boxscore RUSTON ?
Tiawana Pringle nailed six three-pointers and scored a career-high 20 points to lead Louisiana Tech to an 82-60 win over Stephen F. Austin Saturday night before 2,023 fans at the Thomas Assembly Center.
Pringle, who entered the game with a total of four career three-pointers, came through when her team needed her the most. After SFA cut a 16-point Techster lead down to five at 49-44 midway through the second half, Pringle ignited a 24-6 run over the next five minutes, hitting four three-pointers.
?Tiawana hit a couple of those threes and then we started running some plays for her because I could tell she was feeling it,? said Tech head coach Chris Long. ?She has come a long way since last season. I could tell this summer that she was working hard on her game and now we?re seeing the results.?
If not for Pringle?s heroics, SFA?s Nikki Carr might have been the hero. Carr matched Pringle in the second half, scoring 21 of her game-high 22 points after the intermission. Carr hit 9-of-11 field goals and was almost single-handedly responsible for keeping the Ladyjacks in the game.
?I think Nikki Carr could play for just about anyone in the country,? Long said. ?She is so quick. I thought we did a better job of stopping transition in second half. They drive well, and we wanted them to have to drive through three or four of our players. They do a really nice job of lowering their head and getting to basket. We drew a number of charges because of that.?
After both teams traded buckets early in the game, SFA took an 11-8 lead at the 15: 56 mark of the opening half. After the media timeout, Tech used a 16-2 run over a six minute stretch to grab its first double digit lead at 24-13.
JoKeirra Sneed, who recorded her fourth straight double double with 17 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out, led Tech early, scoring 15 points in the opening half and pacing the Lady Techsters to a 38-23 halftime advantage.
?We?ve worked a lot on shooting,? Long said. ?I felt all preseason like this team could shoot. If we can continue to shoot from the perimeter like that, it will open up the inside for Jo and all of our post players. She is getting better at catching the ball and making an offensive move before the double team can come.?
After hitting only 27 percent (7-26) of its field goals in the first half, SFA opened the second half hot and began cutting into the Lady Techster lead. Tech also hurt itself by hitting only 1-of-7 free throws in the first 10 minutes of the second half and ended the night 12-of-23 from the charity stripe.
In addition to Pringle and Sneed?s big nights,
Whitney Jones scored 15 points while
Adrienne Johnson added 12 points and nine rebounds and
Shanavia Dowdell joined in with 11 points and nine boards.
Tech outrebouned SFA 48-39 while shooting 45 percent (31-69) from the field and 50 percent (8-16) from the three-point line.
The Lady Techsters return to action Wednesday at Alabama at 6 p.m. CST.
