March 6, 2010

Box Score

WAC Tournament Bracket

BOISE, Idaho - Shanavia Dowdell became the Western Athletic Conference's all-time leading rebounder Saturday but it wasn't enough as Boise State defeated Louisiana Tech 74-65 at Taco Bell Arena.

Dowdell pulled down nine rebounds to go along with 14 points and her final rebound of the game - the 974th of her career - tied her with former Fresno State forward Omelogo Udeze for first place in the league record books.

The Calera, Alabama natives final rebound came in the waning seconds of the game as the final seconds ticked off the clock and LA Tech fell for only the second time in the last 10 games.

"I hate to say it but Boise State played like they wanted it more," said Tech head coach Teresa Weatherspoon. "It was senior day and they were playing for their seeding in the league tournament.

"Those aren't excuses. We didn't get the job done. This type of game we need to learn from and get ready to play in the tournament next week."

A Tiawana Pringle three-pointer at the 18:17 mark of the first half gave Louisiana Tech a 5-4 lead - its only one of the game.

Boise State then used a 23-7 run over the next eight minutes to lead 27-12 as the Broncos hit on 8 of their first 11 shots from the field. Freshman forward Lauren Lenhardt, who entered the game averaging only 4.0 points per game, scored 10 points in the first 12 minutes of the game as the Boise State post players accounted for 23 of the team's first 29 points.

"It was really disappointing how we allowed them to get so many easy looks in the paint," Weatherspoon said. "That was one of our points of emphasis coming into the game ... keep them out of the paint. We simply didn't do that today."

Tech (20-8, 11-5 WAC) turned up the defensive intensity over the final 10 minutes of the first half holding the Broncos to only five points as the Lady Techsters closed the halftime deficit to 32-26.

An Adrienne Johnson driving layup to open the second half cut the Boise State lead to 32-28; however, Tech would miss eight of its next 10 shot attempts as the Broncos pushed the advantage back out to 45-33 with 14:10 to play.

The lead remained double digits until midway through the second half when Tech used an 8-0 run as Jasmine Bendolph's jumper at the 8:27 mark closed the gap to 54-49. After an empty Broncos possession, Tech had an opportunity to shave even more points off the lead but Bendolph's open three-pointer fell short and Johnson's follow was off the mark as Boise State once again pushed the lead out to 58-49.

Late in the game, Whitney Jones hit back-to-back three-pointers to cut the lead to 67-63 with 49 seconds to play but Boise State hit its free throws down the stretch to pull away for the win.

For the game, Tech shot 34 percent (24-70) from the field and hit only 50 percent (13-26) of its free throws while the Broncos shot 39 percent (26-66) from the field and 73 percent (19-26) from the charity stripe.

And for only the third time in WAC play, Tech was outrebounded as Boise State owned the glass by a 54-40 margin.

"We gave up 17 offensive rebounds and that is unacceptable," Weatherspoon said.

Dowdell and Bendolph led Tech with 14 points each while Jones added 11 points and Johnson scored 10.

Tasha Harris led Boise State with 18 points, 14 coming at the free throw line, while Lenhardt and Rebecca Kepilino each scored 13 points.