March 11, 2010
RENO - In a rematch of one of the greatest games in Western Athletic Conference Tournament women's basketball history, Louisiana Tech will face Nevada Friday at 4:30 p.m. in the semifinals of the 2010 Tournament at Lawlor Events Center.
The two teams met in last year's WAC semifinal with the Wolf Pack defeating the Lady Techsters 91-88 in overtime. It's a game that fans, coaches and players from both sides still remember and were talking about on Thursday - a day off for the women's teams as the men's first round games were played.
Tech (21-8) advanced to the semifinal matchup by virtue of an 82-65 victory over Utah State while Nevada (17-14) defeated Boise State 64-59 in its first round matchup played Wednesday.
Lady Techster head coach Teresa Weatherspoon said Thursday that her team will have to play much better than it did in its last matchup against the Wolf Pack at Lawlor Events Center - a 69-56 loss on Jan. 26.
Ironically enough, Tech will have to focus on slowing down a Wolf Pack player that wasn't even part of last year's meeting in junior college transfer Tahnee Robinson. The Wolf Pack's leading scorer averaging 16.4 points per game, Robinson averaged 21.0 points a contest in the two games against LA Tech this season.
"It starts on the defensive end of the floor for us," Weatherspoon said. "Nevada is a very sound basketball team; very well coached. This is the third time we've played and we both know each other pretty well. It's a matter of effort and execution.
"We have to do a good job against (Tahnee) Robinson. She really hurt us the first time we played them and their offense starts with her. They are far from a one-person team but we know that she can really hurt you if you don't do a good job defensively. She is very crafty."
Nevada and Tech are two of the top offensive teams in the league both averaging more than 70.0 points per game. And although many folks thought LA Tech completely revolved around two-time WAC Player of the Year Shanavia Dowdell, the rest of the Lady Techster cast proved that myth wrong when Tech scored 82 points against Utah State - with Dowdell scoring a season-low two.
"Shanavia is a great player but she has done a nice job of not getting frustrated when people double and triple team her," Weatherspoon said. "Utah State did a nice job and Shanavia was content to play more of a role of a decoy. We have other players that can score and that's what we showed in our last game."
Dowdell has had success against Nevada this year, including a 31-point, 20-rebound effort in the loss to the Wolf Pack. She followed that up with a 24-point, 10-rebound effort in Tech's win in Ruston.
Tech leads the all-time series against Nevada 17-5, including an 8-4 mark in Reno although the Wolf Pack have won four straight on their home floor.
The contest can be heard on the LA Tech Sports Network on ESPN 97.7 FM with the pregame show beginning at 4 p.m. Fans can also follow all of the action streamed live on www.wacsports.com.
