Feb. 19, 2011

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RUSTON - Louisiana Tech watched a 20-point first half lead whittle down to one with less than five minutes to play but the Lady Techsters survived a scare from San Jose State downing the scrappy Spartans 62-53 Saturday at the Thomas Assembly Center.

With the win, Tech (20-5, 12-0 WAC) won its 13th straight game and keeps its two-game lead over Fresno State in the Western Athletic Conference race with four games remaining.

However, the victory didn't come easy.

"I want to give San Jose State all the credit in the world," said Tech head coach Teresa Weatherspoon. "Those kids came in here and played hard. They never quit. They never backed down. They deserve so much credit because they took it to us."

Through the first 15 minutes of the game, it appeared as if it was going to be an easy afternoon for the Lady Techsters in Ruston as Martina Holloway's layup with 5:38 to play in the opening period gave Louisiana Tech a 31-11 lead.

That's when the Spartans took control of the game. For the next five-plus minutes, San Jose State led by senior guard Sayja Sumler sliced and diced the Lady Techsters on both ends of the floor, outscoring LA Tech 14-3 and cutting the deficit to 34-25 at the break.

After the Lady Techsters pushed the advantage back out to as many as 13 at 45-32 on a free throw by Shantale Bramble-Donaldson with 14:28 to play, San Jose State once again put the clamps down on LA Tech.

Over the next eight minutes of play, the Spartans held Tech to one field goal and two free throws while Tech head coach Teresa Weatherspoon sat on the bench looking on at her veteran team.

"We have an experienced team," Weatherspoon said. "Sometimes you have to allow them to learn on their own. We wanted them to work through this on their own. They have all the skills and they've been taught everything they need to know on both ends of the floor. I wanted them to figure it out."

When San Jose State guard AJ Newton hit a three-pointer with 6:35 to play in the game, the Spartans had cut the deficit to 49-48. That's when the Lady Techsters figured it out - at least defensively.

On five of the Spartans next six possessions, LA Tech forced a turnover, including back-to-back steals by Tarkeisha Wysinger-Mackey and Adrienne Johnson that led to fast break layups as the Lady Techsters used an 8-0 run to push the advantage back out to 57-48.

"That's when we decided to play," Weatherspoon said. "You can't turn it on and off like that. We have to play for 40 minutes. We wanted to come out and get better today and we didn't. I give San Jose State a lot of the credit for making this a game."

Johnson led Tech with 14 points and eight rebounds while Whitney Jones added 13 points for the Lady Techsters who committed 25 turnovers in the game.

Sumler led the Spartans with 25 points and eight steals while Sara Plavljanin added 14 points.

Tech shot 41 percent (17-42) from the field, 3-of-10 from the three-point line and 25-of-33 from the free throw line while San Jose State hit 43 percent (20-47) from the field, 3-of-11 from beyond the arc and 10-of-13 from the charity stripe.

Tech returns to action Saturday when it travels to face Utah State at 8 p.m. CT.