Dec. 8, 2009
BOWLING GREEN, Kentucky - Louisiana Tech will try to snap a two-game losing streak Wednesday night when the Lady Techsters face Western Kentucky at 7 p.m. at E.A. Diddle Arena.
The game can be heard on the LA Tech Sports Network on ESPN 97.7 FM (Ruston) and KBYO 92.7 FM (Monroe/Farmerville).
Tech (3-2) dropped hard-fought decisions to 5th-ranked LSU (77-74) and 6th-ranked Baylor (77-67) in its last two games while the Lady Toppers (4-3) lost 79-73 in overtime to 14th-ranked Vanderbilt in their last contest.
The game pits two teams that battled on a yearly basis for 10 years for the Sun Belt Conference title (1991-2001) before LA Tech moved to the Western Athletic Conference in 2001. Tech leads the all-time series 24-13 although Western Kentucky has won four straight games against the Lady Techsters.
The marquee matchup for the contest will pit LA Tech senior forward Shanavia Dowdell (15.6 ppg, 9.2 rpg) against Western Kentucky senior forward Arnika Brown (9.2 ppg, 10.7 rpg). The pair of 6-foot-2 inside forces battled last year as Dowdell scored 30 points and grabbed 16 rebounds while Brown recorded a double double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
However, it was Brown's Lady Topper team that won the war when Amy McNear hit a 15-foot jumper with .8 seconds to play to give WKU a 60-59 victory in Ruston.
Dowdell, who averaged 21.5 points and 8.0 rebounds in Tech's two games against LSU and Baylor, has plenty of offensive support as junior Adrienne Johnson (17.8 ppg, 6.0 rpg), junior Whitney Jones (13.2 ppg, 3.4 rpg), junior Brietta Thomas (9.0 ppg), sophomore Jasmine Bendolph (8.6 ppg, 4.2 apg), and junior Tarkeisha Wysinger (8.0 ppg, 5.3 rpg) are all contributing on an nightly basis.
Tech is one of the top offensive teams in the country through five games, ranking 19th nationally in scoring (78.0 ppg) and 10th in field goal percentage (47.6). Tech has also shown a vast improvement at the free throw line this season, shooting 71 percent from the charity stripe, including 80 percent in its last four games.
Western Kentucky has shown incredible offensive balance as well as the Lady Toppers are led by McNear (10.3 ppg), Brown, Lashay Davis (8.3 ppg), Courtney Clifton (8.0 ppg), Dominique Duck (7.7 ppg) and Kenzie Rich (5.4 ppg).
Head coach Mary Taylor Cowles team has lost three games against Duke (70-47), Arkansas (69-51) and Vanderbilt.
