Dec. 29, 2011

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RUSTON - Courtney Jones scored 16 second half points to lead LSU to a 66-55 come-from-behind win over Louisiana Tech Thursday night before 4,930 fans at the Thomas Assembly Center.

For the second year in a row, Jones proved to be the difference for the Tigers (9-3) against the Techsters (7-8) as the senior forward scored a game-high 20 points and grabbed six boards as LSU won for the sixth straight time this year.

Behind the strong bench play of Angie Felton and Tavasha Anderson, Louisiana Tech (7-8) built as much as a 12-point first half lead as Kiara Young's layup with 4:43 to play in the opening half gave the Lady Techsters a 26-14 advantage.

"We played a great first half," said Tech head coach Teresa Weatherspoon. "The second half wasn't as great. We went away from what worked for us. All of these are great lessons for us to learn as we move forward to conference play. You just take your hat off to LSU for the way they fought, scratched and battled the way they did."

Tech came out of the gates strong. After LSU hit the first bucket of the game to take a 2-0 lead, the Lady Techsters scored five straight as Jasmine Bendolph's three-pointer with 17:49 to play gave Tech a 5-2 advantage.

Leading 7-6, Tech used an 11-2 run triggered by seven points from Felton and Anderson to up the advantage to 18-8 with 11:12 to play in the first half. After the Tigers closed it to six points, Tech used a quick 6-0 spurt to push the advantage out to 12.

LSU closed the half on a 10-3 run as Tech lead 29-24 at the break.

"LSU is a very good basketball team," Weatherspoon said. "They fought hard to keep it close. They did a great job of getting the ball inside and scoring to get themselves back in it. They did a great job of stopping our momentum. That's what the game is all about is about momentum and who will stop it. Unfortunately for us, we didn't have that same fire and intensity when the second half started."

Tech shot 44 percent (12-27) in the opening half while also outrebounding the much bigger LSU team 22-17 and holding the Tigers to only 31 percent (10-31) shooting.

The second half mostly belong to LSU as the Tigers hit 10 of their first 14 shots and quickly turned the five-point halftime deficit into a 47-38 lead on Bianca Lutley's jumper with 11:06 remaining in the game.

Tech then held LSU scoreless for almost four minutes. However, the Lady Techsters were only able to shave five points off the deficit in large part to struggles at the free throw line. Tech, which ended the night only 11-of-23 from the stripe, hit only 3-of-7 free throws during that four-minute Tiger drought.

Adrienne Webb's layup at the 7:41 mark of the game broke the drought as LSU pushed the advantage out to double digits at 55-45 with just over four minutes to play. LSU hit 11-of-14 free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

Felton led Tech with a game-high 15 points while Anderson and Whitney Jones each added 10 points. Kiara Young scored nine points and led all players with eight rebounds.

Jones led LSU with 20 while Adrienne Webb added 12 points.

For the game, Tech held its own on the boards as LSU ended the night with a slim 41-40 rebounding margin.

Tech shot 38 percent (20-53) from the field against the nation's third best defensive team. LSU entered the contest allowing opponents to average only 46 points a game and shoot only 31 percent from the field.

The Lady Techsters return to action Jan. 12 when they open Western Athletic Conference play against Idaho.