March 11, 2008
RUSTON - Arguably the most interesting first round game of the 2008 Western Athletic Conference Tournament on Wednesday will be No. 5 seed Louisiana Tech's 1 p.m. contest against No. 4 seed Nevada.
The two teams finished the WAC regular season with identical 9-7 marks and were tied for fourth place in the league standings. Tech and Nevada split their two games with the Wolf Pack winning 74-70 in Reno Jan. 24 and the Lady Techsters prevailing 70-64 March 1 in Ruston.
"We played two close games, and I expect it to be another 40 minute battle," said Tech head coach Chris Long. "Nevada is a tough team led by a very good player in Dellena Criner. She impacts the game with her defense and her scoring ability."
Criner, who scored 29 points in Tech's win over the Wolf Pack just over a week ago, spearheads a Nevada full-press man-to-man defense that forces over 23 turnovers a game, ranking among the top 10 in the country.
"Nevada ranks near the top in the country in creating turnovers so it will be critical that we get good guard play Wednesday," Long said.
The Wolf Pack forced Tech into 47 turnovers in the two games. However, the Lady Techsters shot 49 percent from the field in those two games, proving that if Tech can take care of the basketball, it should be able to score.
Senior forward Jo Sneed, who was named first team all-WAC Sunday, returns to the court for Tech after missing the last game and a half due to suspension stemming from an on-court-incident in Hawaii.
Averaging 15.8 points and 10.3 rebounds a game, Sneed will be looked to early and often although Long said he feels his basketball team is starting to get contributions from a number of different areas.
"We are getting scoring recently from two freshmen in Adrienne Johnson and Sidney Stewart," Long said. "We are playing some of our best basketball of the season over the last month so hopefully that confidence carries into the tournament."
In her last three games, Stewart is averaging 12.7 points a game while shooting 46 percent from the field and 7-of-14 from the three-point line. Johnson scored 17 points and pulled down seven rebounds while starting for Sneed in Tech's season finale against San Jose State.
Tech leads the all-time series against Nevada 14-2.
2008 Western Athletic Conference Tournament What: Louisiana Tech (15-14, 9-7 WAC) vs. Nevada (18-11, 9-7 WAC) Where: Pan American Center in Las Cruces, N.M. When: 1 p.m. CST Wednesday Radio: KXKZ-FM 107.5 Internet Audio: www.z1075fm.com Internet Video: www.wacsports.com
