March 19, 2009

Box Score

RUSTON -- On a night where Louisiana Tech forward Shanavia Dowdell joined the 1,000-point club, it was teammate Adrienne Johnson who stole the spotlight.

Johnson scored a career-high 31 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead Louisiana Tech to a 77-54 win over SMU before 1,529 fans at the Thomas Assembly Center in the first round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament.

With the win, Tech (21-12) advances to Tuesday's second round game at Illinois State which will tip-off at 7 p.m. CST. The Redbirds won the Missouri Valley Conference regular season title and are 24-7 on the season, including an 11-1 mark at Redbird Arena.

The Lady Techsters advanced thanks to the big night from Johnson, who hit 11-of-17 field goals and 9-of-10 free throws while adding four blocks, two steals and two assists in 31 minutes.

Her 31 points tied the WAC-high for most points in a single game this season, joining teammate Whitney Jones (vs. Utah State) and Idaho's Derisa Telani (vs. Utah State).

"I can't say enough about Adrienne tonight," said Tech head coach Teresa Weatherspoon. "When teams double down on Shanavia (Dowdell), then Adrienne steps out and knocks down that jumper. She did everything for us tonight."

After a slow beginning that saw Tech commit seven turnovers in the first 10 minutes of the game and fall behind 16-13, the Lady Techsters started clicking. Johnson scored eight straight points during a 10-0 run that saw LA Tech take a 23-16 lead with 6:23 to play.

Another Johnson layup with 2:48 to play gave Tech its biggest lead of the half at 35-22 before SMU (20-12) reeled off an 8-2 run on back-to-back three-pointers by Jillian Samuels and Brittany Gilliam to cut the deficit to seven.

Tech ended the half by scoring the final four points to lead 41-30 at the break.

"I thought we came out a little tight," said Weatherspoon, who saw her team commit 12 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes. "I wasn't pleased with how many turnovers we had in the first half. We did a better job of settling down and taking care of the basketball in the second half."

Tech shot 52 percent (16-31) from the field in the opening half while holding the Mustangs to only 38 percent (14-37). The Lady Techsters also outrebounded SMU 25-18 in the first half and 52-46 for the game.

The second half saw the two teams trade buckets for the first four minutes before Johnson and Dowdell scored every point during a 10-0 run that saw the Lady Techsters push their lead out to 58-35 with 13:14 to play.

Tech pushed the advantage out to as many as 27 at 69-42 on a Dowdell jumper with 6:26 to play. SMU would get no closer than 22 the rest of the way.

Dowdell added 19 points and 13 rebounds and became the 38th Lady Techster to ever score 1,000 career points when she hit a lay-up at the 12:22 mark of the first half. Whitney Jones scored 11 points despite playing only 16 minutes due to foul trouble.

Gilliam led SMU with 16 points while Haley Day added 10 points.