Nov. 22, 2010
GameDay Central
Media Guide
RUSTON - Louisiana Tech head coach Teresa Weatherspoon was not in a good mood following her teams' 59-55 loss at UALR Friday night.
Over the course of the last few days, her mood has improved but she still hasn't forgotten about what her team didn't do down the stretch that ultimately cost the Lady Techsters the game.
Weatherspoon and Co. will get a chance for redemption Tuesday night when they host one of the top teams in Conference USA as the Houston Cougars come to the Thomas Assembly Center for a 7 p.m. tipoff.
Houston (2-0) boasts the CUSA preseason player of the year in forward Courtney Taylor and is the only CUSA team with multiple preseason first teamers as guard Brittney Scott joins her teammate on the all-conference team selected by the league's coaches.
And as good as the duo is, Weatherspoon is quick to point out that Houston isn't a two-player show.
"They have five players averaging in double figures," Weatherspoon said. "We must defend, but most importantly, we must secure the rebound because they are relentless on the boards. The play hard; we must come out and play harder."
Taylor is averaging 18.0 points and 11.0 rebounds per game for the Cougars while Scott is averaging 18.0 points while shooting 55 percent from the three-point line. In addition to the dynamic duo, Roxana Button (14.0 ppg), Porsche Landry (11.5 ppg) and Lesslee Mason (11.5 ppg) are also averaging in double figures.
After lopsided wins over UT-Arlington (88-48) and New Mexico State (82-62), Houston ranks among the nation's highest scoring teams at 85.0 points per game.
However, motivation shouldn't be a problem for the Lady Techsters after their less than stellar performance against UALR. Tech committed 20 turnovers, fell behind by 13 points early and then got outhustled on a few critical plays in the final few minutes of the game.
"We have every reason to be more motivated after the way we played in the loss to UALR," Weatherspoon said. "We must be hungry for every rebound, mostly because of the simple things we didn't do in our last game. We must play hard for 40 minutes and execute the game plan."
Tech (2-1) is led by senior forward Adrienne Johnson (24.7 ppg, 5.7 rpg), who became the first Lady Techsters since Betty Lennox (1999-2000) to start the season with three straight 20-plus point performances.
Although Johnson has been the go-to player early in the year for LA Tech, Tarkeisha Wysinger (8.7 ppg, 6.7 rpg), Whitney Jones (9.0 ppg, 4.7 rpg), Jasmine Bendolph (8.3 ppg, 4.3 apg), Angie Felton (6.0 ppg) and Shantale Bramble-Donaldson (5.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg).
Tech leads the all-time series against Houston 4-2, although the Cougars won the last meeting 71-52 in 2000-01.
The contest can be heard on the LA Tech Sports Network on ESPN 97.7 FM with the pregame show beginning at 6:30 p.m. Fans can also see a live stream of the game with a subscription to LA Tech All-Access at www.latechsports.com.
