Dec. 22, 2008

Box Score

RUSTON -- What a difference a week makes.

Just seven days after playing its poorest offensive game of the year, Louisiana Tech rebounded and defeated Arkansas-Little Rock 77-61 Monday night at the Thomas Assembly Center in Ruston.

Tech (6-5) shot 53 percent (27-51) from the field for the game to hand the Trojans (9-3) only their third loss of the season.

The Lady Techsters led by double digits for the majority of the game and held off a late UALR run for the victory.

"I couldn't be happier with how we played," said Tech head coach Chris Long. "We beat a good team tonight. I felt like the zone defense was the difference. UALR executes so well vs. man to man. I felt like the zone forced them to take a bunch of outside shots."

After opening the game in man defense, Tech switched to a zone after the Trojans first few possessions and played zone the final 39 minutes of the game, holding UALR to only 31 percent (25-80) shooting and only 16 percent (5-31) from the three-point line.

With the two teams tied 9-9 in the early going, Tech used a 10-0 run over a two-minute stretch to lead 19-9 on a jumper by Shanavia Dowdell with 11:42 to play in the opening half.

Behind a balanced offensive attack that was spearheaded by sophomore Adrienne Johnson and junior Tiawana Pringle in the opening 20 minutes, Tech built as much as a 17-point lead (32-15) before taking a 40-26 lead into the halftime locker room.

"I was really pleased with our offensive execution and how well we were able to get the ball inside and finish," Long said. "We spent a lot of time on that this week in practice. I felt like our post players posted hard all night and our guards delivered it to them when they were open."

Johnson scored 13 of her 21 points in the first half while Pringle added all 11 of her points prior to the halftime buzzer.

In the second half, Dowdell took over for the Lady Techsters scoring 17 of her game-high 25 over the final 20 minutes of play. Dowdell recorded her sixth double double of the season by adding 11 rebounds in the win.

Dowdell was instrumental in helping Tech extend its halftime lead to 49-30 with 15 minutes to play before UALR mounted an impressive comeback.

Behind the scoring of Anshel Cooper, who finished with 24 points, and an incredible job on the offensive glass, the Trojans cut the Tech lead down to 62-56 with 4:52 to play on a baseline jumper by Marian Kursh.

However, six straight points by Dowdell helped Tech keep UALR at arms length as the Lady Techsters ended the game on a 9-0 run for the 16-point victory.

Sidney Stewart added 10 points in the win for Tech.

The 77 points by Tech was the most UALR has given up all year as the Trojans entered the game ranked among the nation's leaders in scoring defense, surrendering only 51.5 per game.

The victory also came against a UALR team that had posted wins over Oklahoma State (65-51) and Ole Miss (64-61) this season.

Tech returns to action Dec. 28 when it faces UMBC at 6 p.m. CST in the first round of the University of Virginia Tournament.