Nov. 1, 2009

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RUSTON - Shanavia Dowdell scored 23 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead Louisiana Tech to an 81-52 win over Incarnate Word Sunday afternoon at the Thomas Assembly Center in exhibition basketball action.

Dowdell, the reigning Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year, hit 10-of-15 field goals in only 23 minutes of action to lead five LA Tech players in double figures.

The Lady Techsters defeated the Division II Cardinals who are coached by former LA Tech great Angela Lawson, a teammate of Tech head coach Teresa Weatherspoon on the program's 1988 national championship team.

"What I wanted to see was effort," said Tech head coach Teresa Weatherspoon. "With great effort, everything else will fall into place. It was very important to come out and have a good outing so we can see what we need to work on.

"I was pleased with our defensive effort; we still have plenty of things that need to be corrected. Offensively, a lot of times we didn't move the ball or have good spacing but these are all things that are correctible and will come in time."

Dowdell got the Lady Techsters off to a good start, scoring 11 of LA Tech's first 17 points while also hitting on all six of her field goals in the opening half as she led all scorers with 13.

With Tech leading 22-18 after a three-pointer by Cardinals guard Katherine Frost at the 10:56 mark of the first half, the Lady Techsters received some solid contributions off the bench as Kiara Young, Reina Kempt and Brietta Thomas combined to score 21 points in a 28-2 run that closed the half.

Young finished the game with 15 points one 7-of-11 shooting while Thomas added 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting, including a pair of three-pointers. Kempt added three points in her college debut.

"I thought our bench came in and kept the intensity high," Weatherspoon said. "It's no surprise to any of us that Kiara is playing well. She is learning where she fits in and she is building confidence. Playing against other people today and having this success will help her understand what she needs to do to help us."

While building the 50-20 halftime advantage, Tech connected on 49 percent (20-41) of its field goal attempts in the opening half while holding Incarnate Word to only 32 percent (7-22). The Lady Techsters also forced 21 first half turnovers while committing only five in the opening 20 minutes of play.

However, despite trailing by 30 points, Incarnate Word came out in the second half and fought back, using a 13-4 run over the first six minutes to cut the Tech lead to 21 at 54-33. The Lady Techsters committed four turnovers and hit only 2-of-7 field goals to begin the second half.

"Incarnate Word is well-coached," said Weatherspoon. "They had a great deal of fight in them. Knowing Angela like I do, I knew she would have them playing with great effort and intensity. They never quit. That's what we both were taught by Coach (Leon) Barmore and what we both instill in our teams."

Incarnate Word hit 50 percent (14-28) of its field goals in the second half and outscored the Lady Techsters 32-31 over the final 20 minutes.

"When you are up like we were, you have a tendency to think the game is over," Weatherspoon said. "We allowed some easy baskets; we didn't do what we needed to do defensively. Regardless of what the score is our team will learn to defend. We have a long way to go but we will get there."

Adrienne Johnson added 12 points, four rebounds and two blocks while Whitney Jones also scored 12 points for the Lady Techsters.

Hayley Harvey led Incarnate Word with 16 points while Nia Torru added 14 points.

Tech will open the regular season Nov. 13 when its hosts Centenary at 7 p.m. at the Thomas Assembly Center.