Feb. 17, 2011

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RUSTON - Adrienne Johnson scored 19 of her game-high 22 points in the second half to help Louisiana Tech blow open a tight game and defeat Hawaii 76-50 before 1,747 fans at the Thomas Assembly Center Thursday night.

The victory was the 400th all-time by the Lady Techsters at the Thomas Assembly Center as LA Tech now owns an eye-popping 400-40 record in the facility since it opened in 1982.

LA Tech (19-5, 11-0 WAC) also won for the 12th straight time and kept its two-game lead in the Western Athletic Conference race intact. Hawaii (9-17, 3-10) fell for only the second time in its last five games.

Early on it looked like the game might be a route as Tarkeisha Wysinger-Mackey spearheaded a tough Tech defensive effort that forced numerous turnovers leading to easy buckets and a 15-point Lady Techster advantage.

Wysinger-Mackey scored 10 of her 12 points in the first eight minutes of play and when Shantale Bramble-Donaldson scored off an assist by Wysinger-Mackey with 10:49 to play in the opening half, Tech lead 25-10.

However, Hawaii changed to a zone defense and LA Tech went cold, hitting only 3-of-19 shots the rest of the half as the Rainbow Wahine pulled to within 30-25 at the half.

"I told them that we weren't that bad of a zone offensive team," said Tech head coach Teresa Weatherspoon. "We simply started to settle for too many outside shots. We didn't do a good job of executing our offense against the zone. We got a little stagnant."

Wysinger-Mackey, who scored in double figures for the seventh straight game and ninth time in last 10 contests, said that Weatherspoon addressed the team's shortcomings at the half.

"She told us we weren't attacking," Wysinger-Mackey said. "We weren't being aggressive enough. We were settling too much."

Weatherspoon's message hit home with her team as Tech came out in the second half and attacked the Hawaii zone, as Johnson scored 10 points to lead a 21-8 run as Tech grabbed a 51-33 lead eight minutes into the second half.

The lead continued to grow as Kiara Young's layup with 10:14 to play made the score 56-36 as the Lady Techsters would go on to build as much as a 30-point advantage before coasting to its 24th win over Hawaii in 27 tries.

Johnson's 22 points marked the 15th time this year that she has eclipsed the 20-point plateau.

Bramble-Donaldson added 13 points while Wysinger-Mackey and Brietta Thomas each scored 12 points for the Lady Techsters. Jasmine Bendolph added seven points, seven rebounds, five steals and four assists in 22 minutes.

Kamilah Jackson was the lone Hawaii player in double figures, scoring 12 points while pulling down 10 rebounds.

Tech shot 40 percent (27-67) from the field, 5-of-19 from the three-point line and 17-of-27 from the free throw line while Hawaii hit 39 percent (19-49) of its field goals, 4-of-9 three-pointers and 8-of-15 free throws.

The Lady Techsters forced 28 turnovers while committing only 10 as LA Tech outscored the Rainbow Wahine 34-7 on points off of turnovers.

Tech returns to action Saturday when they will face San Jose State at 6 p.m. at the Thomas Assembly Center in the second game of a basketball doubleheader. The Bulldogs will host Georgia State with tipoff set for 3 p.m.