Jan. 6, 2010

Box Score

RUSTON - Amber White scored 18 points to lead four players in double figures as Utah State shocked Louisiana Tech 69-66 Wednesday night in the Western Athletic Conference opener at the Thomas Assembly Center.

For the fifth time in five games, the Lady Techsters (9-4, 0-1 WAC) played with fire but for the first time they finally got burned as LA Tech led by as many as 10 points in the second half before the Aggies (9-5, 1-0 WAC) scrapped and clawed their way back for the win.

"What's disappointing is for us to implement a game plan, and then not have the (girls) execute the game plan," said Tech head coach Teresa Weatherspoon. "They decided to try to win their own way. We went away from the game plan we put in place.

"Against a team like Utah State that is so deliberate and wants to play at a slower pace, you have to take advantage of your opportunities. We didn't do that. You can't commit 24 turnovers and expect to win any game, much less against a good team."

Despite outrebounding Utah State 50-31, including pulling down 19 offensive boards, Louisiana Tech lost for the first time in its last six games as the Aggies defeated the Lady Techsters for the first time in the series history.

After a first half that saw the two teams trade the lead five times before the Lady Techsters finally took a 32-27 advantage into intermission, Louisiana Tech came out in the second half and pushed its advantage out to 44-34 with 15:39 to play on a three-pointer by Whitney Jones.

The Aggies made some mini-runs cutting the advantage to as few as four points a couple of times as the lead remained in single digits for the rest of the game.

Tech led 61-57 on a Adrienne Johnson free throw with 2:23 to play before Utah State scored 10 straight points as TaHara Williams and Alice Coddington hit back-to-back three-pointers to start the game-deciding run.

During that stretch, Tech committed two turnovers and missed its only shot attempt. By the time Martina Holloway hit a layup to snap the run with 0:18 to play, the game was basically out of reach.

Shanavia Dowdell led Tech with 17 points and 14 rebounds while Johnson added 16 points and Whitney Jones scored 14.

In addition to White's big night, Coddington scored 15 points, Williams added 14 and LaCale Pringle-Buchanan scored 13 points.

Tech returns to action Wednesday when it travels to San Jose State to face the Spartans at 9 p.m.