Jan. 19, 2011
RUSTON - Louisiana Tech returns to action Thursday night when the first-place Lady Techsters (11-5, 3-0) host Utah State (8-8, 2-1) at 7 p.m. at the Thomas Assembly Center in Western Athletic Conference action.
LA Tech, who currently remains as the only undefeated team in WAC play through the first two weeks of the season, leads the all-time series against the Aggies 10-1 although Utah State defeated the Lady Techsters 69-66 in Ruston last season.
In order to add another notch in the win column, Tech head coach Teresa Weatherspoon knows her team will have to play well against a much-improved Utah State team that has won eight of its last 12 after starting the season with four straight losses.
"The first thing that you notice watching film is how much size they have," Weatherspoon said. "We are usually smaller than other teams but they definitely have a size advantage and we will have to do a good job defensively across the board. They are playing very good basketball right now. This game will be a challenge for us."
Utah State is coming off its most impressive performance of the year with an 81-69 home win over Nevada Saturday night. The Aggies handed the Wolf Pack only its fourth loss of the season and did it in dominating fashion, building a 22-4 lead and pushing it out to as many as 19 before coasting to the 12-point victory.
Ashlee Brown, a transfer from UC Santa Barbara, leads Utah State averaging 14.2 points and 8.8 rebounds per game while shooting 48 percent from the field. Brown has recorded six double doubles on the year and can tie the school record with one more.
Guard Devyn Christensen rank second on the team, averaging 9.0 points per game but is coming off a career-high 24-point effort in the win over the Wolf Pack.
Utah State also boasts the WAC's tallest player in 6-foot-6-inch sophomore Banna Diop, who is averaging 8.6 points and 6.0 rebounds. Diop has tallied 26 blocks on the year, including a career-high 8 in a win over Boise State on Jan. 6.
LA Tech has been off since its Jan. 13 triple overtime win over Fresno State in a game that saw the Lady Techsters snap the Bulldogs 20-game WAC regular season win streak.
All-American candidate Adrienne Johnson continues to make her mark on the Tech record books, as she enters the game ranked 13th in the country in scoring at 20.9 points per game. Johnson has scored in double figures in 15 of 16 games and has eclipsed the 20-point plateau eight times this season, including twice scoring 30 or more.
Senior guards Whitney Jones (11.6 ppg, 3.4 rpg) and Tarkeisha Wysinger-Mackey (9.1 ppg, 6.1 rpg) have also been steady offensively while junior forward Kiara Young has exploded onto the scene recently. After scoring a total of two points in the first seven games of the year, Young has averaged 9.4 points and 6.7 rebounds per game over the last nine games.
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.
