March 12, 2009

Box Score

RENO -- Adrienne Johnson overcame a slow start to score 18 points and grab a career-high 16 rebounds to lead Louisiana Tech to an 81-68 win over New Mexico State in the first round of the 2009 Western Athletic Conference Tournament at the Lawlor Events Center late Wednesday night.

Johnson, who was named first team all-WAC Sunday, missed her first seven shots from the field but was a beast on the offensive glass, saving her best stretch of basketball during a key run late.

After WAC Player of the Year Shanavia Dowdell picked up her fourth personal foul with 8:00 to play in the game and NMSU having cut a 17-point Lady Techster lead down to eight, Johnson scored seven points during a critical 9-2 run that pushed the advantage back out to 15 with less than four minutes to play.

The Aggies would get no closer than 10 the rest of the way.

"We are an inside team," said Tech head coach Teresa Weatherspoon. "We are going to go inside-outside; we are a throwback team. When our posts are working as hard as Johnson and Dowdell did tonight, it creates a lot of opportunities for our guards.

"These are two young ladies who are great players. Adrienne is undersized but she is a great leaper and enjoys it. Shanavia loves the contact. They are both playing hard and leading our team. The other kids are following them."

Dowdell ended the night with 18 points and seven rebounds but watched the final eight minutes from the bench while her teammates picked up the slack.

"It's tough inside," Dowdell said. "There is always a lot of contact and banging. We just have to keep our composure and not let it bother us. It's always very physical; we just can't let it affect us."

When Dowdell and Johnson weren't creating havoc inside, guards Whitney Jones, Tiawana Pringle and Sidney Stewart were adding insult to injury on the perimeter combining to score 33 points while recording nine assists and committing only three turnovers.

"This was a big win for us tonight," Weatherspoon said. "It was a tough battle. I'm very proud how we handled ourselves and fought for 40 minutes. When you do that and overcome adversity, these are the types of results you get."

Tech almost led from start to finish as the Aggies only lead of the night came at 8-7 on a jumper by sophomore guard Madison Spence at the 16:10 mark of the opening half. Tech then used a 14-2 run over the next six minutes to build a 21-10 lead as Pringle scored six points and Dowdell added five.

The Aggies wouldn't go away though as NMSU cut the lead down to 29-25 on another Spence bucket at the 2:18 mark of the first half. Tech led 33-26 at the break despite shooting only 29 percent in the opening half.

The key to the lead was Tech outscoring NMSU 14-0 on points off of turnovers as the Lady Techsters committed only two turnovers in the opening 20 minutes of play.

Tech's cold shooting turned a little warmer in the second half as the Lady Techsters hit 55 percent (17-31) in the final 20 minutes of play while also outrebounding NMSU 25-11 after halftime. Johnson and Dowdell combined for 14 offensive rebounds in the game while as a team Tech pulled down 26.

Spence, Corbett and Tyshae Walton each scored 13 points to lead New Mexico State.

Tech will face Nevada Friday at 4:30 p.m. CDT as the Wolf Pack defeated Boise State 73-65.