Dec. 15, 2010

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RUSTON - Adrienne Johnson scored 23 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and Whitney Jones added 17 points to lead Louisiana Tech to an 84-54 win over Arkansas State Wednesday night before 1,654 fans at the Thomas Assembly Center.

Tech (5-3) managed to do what no other team had accomplished all season long as they dominated Arkansas State (6-5) for all 40 minutes of play.

Entering the contest, the Red Wolves four previous losses had been by three points to 15th ranked Iowa, six points in double overtime at SMU, 11 points at Missouri State, and 12 points to 18th ranked St. John's.

However, the Lady Techsters built a 22-point halftime lead and never looked back in winning for the 27th straight time in the series.

"Our kids responded to the challenge we put before them this week," said Tech head coach Teresa Weatherspoon, who was furious following her team's 52-44 win over Southern Sunday. "We were focused. We played under control. We executed, and we played with great effort.

"Arkansas State is a very good basketball team. They run a lot of sets and make it tough on you defensively. They rebound the ball well; their 19 offensive rebounds were too many tonight but besides that we played well."

After watching her team commit 27 turnovers in Sunday's win over the Jaguars, Weatherspoon harped all week on valuing the basketball.

"We set a goal to have under 10 turnovers tonight," Weatherspoon said. "We had 12. I can live with that because those were effort turnovers. It started with the play of (our point guard) Jasmine Bendolph. She knew she had not been playing like she is capable of playing and tonight it started with her being aggressive on the offensive end and getting us into our offense."

Bendolph, who had committed 24 turnovers in the last four games, ended the night with six points, four assists and only one turnover in 21 minutes of play.

"That stat line doesn't do justice to what she gave us tonight," Weatherspoon said.

However, it was Johnson and Jones who sparked the Techsters first half dominance as the duo combined for 28 points in the opening 20 minutes on 12-of-18 shooting.

With Tech leading 36-24 with four minutes to play in the opening half and the game still well within doubt, Jones and Johnson combined to score nine points as Tech ended the half on an 11-1 run.

Tech shot 56 percent (20-36) from the field in the opening 20 minutes of play while holding the Red Wolves to a mere 27 percent (9-34).

Jones and Johnson then ignited an early run in the second half that saw the Lady Techsters push their lead to 67-37 on a Tarkeisha Wysinger-Mackey layup at the 12:26 mark. Weatherspoon emptied her bench with just over 10 minutes to play as the Tech reserves executed down the stretch to maintain the 30-point margin of victory.

"I thought our bench relaxed and played well," Weatherspoon said. "They don't realize how important it is that they are able to come in and give us quality minutes in key situations. They came in and didn't turn the ball over and continued to play with the same effort our starters began the game with."

Shantale Bramble-Donaldson added 10 points and seven rebounds in only 12 minutes for Tech, which won for the third straight time.

For the game, Tech shot 49 percent (33-67) from the field, 41 percent (7-17) from the three-point line but hit only 52 percent (11-21) of its free throws. Arkansas State hit just 27 percent (17-64) of its field goals, including only 2-of-19 from beyond the arc.

Shania Hurst led the Red Wolves with 14 points while Shay Scott added 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Tech returns to action Friday when it faces Tulane in New Orleans at 7 p.m.