Feb. 14, 2010

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RUSTON - Shanavia Dowdell scored 25 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and Adrienne Johnson added 19 points to lead Louisiana Tech to an 81-66 win over San Jose State Sunday afternoon in Western Athletic Conference action at the Thomas Assembly Center.

Tech (16-6, 7-3 WAC) won its fourth straight contest and improved its all-time record against the Spartans to 18-0 while San Jose State (5-19, 1-10 WAC) lost its sixth straight despite a valiant effort.

"The one thing I can say about that basketball team is they play extremely hard," said Tech head coach Teresa Weatherspoon. "They didn't let anything keep them from playing hard. Travel issues, score ... nothing stopped them. You have to give them a lot of credit.

"This game will do us a lot of good. There will be a lot of good film for us to show the girls."

The performances by Dowdell and Johnson offset an impressive showing from San Jose State guards Chasity Shavers and Sayja Sumler. Shavers scored 27 points while Sumler added 17 points in the loss.

"Shavers took it personally," said Weatherspoon, referring to Tech holding the guard to only two points in the first meeting of the year. "She had a lot of family here and she wanted to redeem herself. You have to give her credit. We didn't play as well defensively as we should but they played with great effort."

After San Jose State took an early 2-0 lead on a bucket by Shavers off the opening tip, Tech responded with six straight points including back to back field goals by Dowdell. The two teams stayed close as Tech led only 22-18 with 8:33 to play before using a 7-0 run to grab a 29-18 advantage on a shot by Tarkeisha Wysinger.

The Lady Techsters led 49-31 at the half thanks to 16 points by Johnson, who hit 8-of-8 free throws in the opening stanza. Dowdell added 12 points while Wysinger scored nine.

Over the final 20 minutes of play, Tech was unable to completely put San Jose State away while the Spartans were never able to really threaten the Lady Techster lead.

Tech's biggest lead came at 72-50 with 6:21 to play on a layup by Johnson before the Spartans scored 10 straight points to close the deficit to 72-60. Sumler and Shavers each scored four points during the mini-run.

Dowdell recorded her 15th double double of the year and the 39th of her career, moving into sixth place in the Tech record books trailing only Pam Kelly, Venus Lacy, Elinor Griffin, Nora Lewis and Janice Lawrence.

In addition to Dowdell and Johnson's double digit performances, Wysinger added 11 points while Tiawana Pringle scored nine points.

Tech shot 45 percent (29-65) from the field while hitting 78 percent (21-27) of its free throws and outrebounded San Jose State 41-32.

The Spartans hit 50 percent (26-52) of their field goals, only the second time all season an opponent shot 50 percent or better against the Lady Techsters.

Tech returns to action Wednesday night when the Lady Techsters face New Mexico State at the Pan American Center at 8 p.m. CST.