Nov. 12, 2010
GameDay Central
RUSTON - After five hard weeks of practice and a pair of lopsided exhibition wins, Louisiana Tech will play for keeps starting Saturday night when the Lady Techsters open up their regular season against Prairie View A&M at 6 p.m.
The contest will be the first of two at the TAC as the Bulldogs will host Austin College following the completion of the Lady Techsters contest.
Head coach Teresa Weatherspoon's team returns three starters and eight letter winners from last year when the Lady Techsters won 23 games, captured the 2010 Western Athletic Conference Tournament title and advanced to the program's 26th NCAA Tournament.
The third-year head coach said she is eager to see her team as it begins defense of its WAC championship title.
"We are excited to get back in action and represent our University," Weatherspoon said. "We have had some tremendous practices and a lot of conditioning. We are not as big as a lot of teams so we are going to get be in great condition in order to be able to run and press and be successful.
"We had two exhibition games that went well. We have a lot of things to continue to work on in order to be where we want to be. We are working on getting better defensively. The two exhibition games we focused on the challenge of getting better individually and collectively."
Tech won its two exhibition games, including an 88-65 win over Arkansas-Monticello and a 93-18 win over Oklahoma Panhandle State.
Prairie View A&M enters the contest with a new head coach as Cynthia Cooper-Dyke left the program to take the job at North Carolina-Wilmington. Thus, first year head coach Toyelle Wilson will bring her team into Ruston minus the majority of last year's roster.
"They are almost always an NCAA Tournament team," Weatherspoon said. "Their kids can play. One thing we are up against is the unknown because they are quite a different team from last year. We have to prepare our kids for a tough basketball game. It's our job as coaches to get our kids ready to play."
The contest can be heard on the LA Tech Sports Network on KPCH 99.3 FM (Ruston) with the pregame show beginning at 5:30 p.m.
Tech fans can also listen and watch a live stream of the game by subscribing to LA Tech All-Access at www.latechsports.com.
