Nov. 13, 2010

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RUSTON - Louisiana Tech senior forward Adrienne Johnson scored 25 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Lady Techsters to a 79-46 win over Prairie View A&M Saturday night at the Thomas Assembly Center.

Johnson, a two-time first team all-Western Athletic Conference honoree, hit 8-of-13 field goals and 8-of-9 free throws while adding three steals in 31 minutes of action as Louisiana Tech coasted to the 33-point victory.

"I think she got off to a little bit of a slow start because she was trying to figure out how they were going to guard her," said Tech head coach Teresa Weatherspoon. "However, once she figured it out, she just released her game. She is so good. She is stifling defensively. She is a guard in a posts body. She simply gets the job done night in and night out."

Johnson wasn't the only Tech player who got off to a slow start as the Lady Techsters hit only 4 of their first 16 field goal attempts and led 16-8 with just over eight minutes to play in the first half.

"I think we were a little impatient early," Weatherspoon said. "We had those first game jitters. Once we got those out of the way, we settled down and played some comfortable basketball."

Despite the early scoring drought, Tech maintained a lead due to a stifling man-to-man pressure that forced 15 first half turnovers and 29 for the game.

"Defensively, they did everything we asked of them," Weatherspoon said. "We wanted to be more aggressive; stifling. We wanted to be everywhere with ball pressure and wing denials. We wanted them to work for everything they got. Our kids did that and that's why we were successful."

Junior guard Angie Felton came into the game and provided a spark, scoring eight points down the stretch while also registering three assists.

"From the beginning of the game, I thought we didn't quite have the energy we needed," Weatherspoon said. "I was trying to go to the bench and Angie Felton did the job. She was unbelievable. She can really stretch defenses with her range and she gets in the gaps and gets people open. I want to see all of our newcomers come in and realize they can be impact players for us."

Tech turned turnovers into easy baskets during the final minutes of the opening half as the eight-point lead quickly ballooned into a 35-16 halftime advantage. The Panthers (0-1) shot only 24 percent (6-25) from the field in the opening half.

After a Dominique Smith layup at the 18:07 mark of the second half cut the Tech lead to 39-23, the Lady Techsters put the game away with an 18-2 run over the next five minutes as Johnson scored 10 points while Whitney Jones buried back-to-back three-pointers.

Prairie View A&M would get no closer than 27 the rest of the way as freshman Jelena Vucinic's three-pointer with less than a minute to play provided the final margin.

For the game, Tech shot 46 percent (28-61) from the field, 43 percent (6-14) from the three-point line and 85 percent (17-20) from the free throw line.

Jasmine Bendolph and Jones each scored 10 points for Tech while Tarkeisha Wysinger-Mackey, Shantale Bramble-Donaldson and Felton added eight each.

Latia Williams led the Panthers with 14 points while Siarra Soliz scored 11. Tech held Dominique Smith, the Panthers first team all-SWAC performer, to only two points on 1-for-4 shooting while forcing her into seven turnovers.

Tech returns to action Tuesday when it hosts Western Kentucky at 7 p.m.