March 10, 2011
GameDay Central
WAC Tournament Central
LAS VEGAS - For the fourth straight year, Louisiana Tech will face the Nevada Wolf Pack in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament as the Lady Techsters will tipoff in Friday's semifinal at 2 p.m. CT from the Orleans Arena.
The contest can be heard on the LA Tech Sports Network on ESPN 97.7 FM with the pregame show beginning at 1:30 p.m. CT.
The top-seeded Lady Techsters earned a double bye into Friday's semifinals by virtue of their outright Western Athletic Conference regular season title - the program's eighth in 10 years as a member of the league.
Nevada, the fourth seed in the tournament, defeated fifth-seeded Idaho 75-61 late Thursday night to advance to the match-up against the Lady Techsters. Tahnee Robinson scored a career-high 35 points in the victory as the Wolf Pack shot 65 percent (15-23) from the field in the second half to overcome a 36-29 halftime deficit.
The contest will be somewhat of a rematch for the two teams as Nevada handed Louisiana Tech its only regular season conference defeat this year, a 71-66 win by the Wolf Pack on Feb. 28 in Reno.
A win by the Lady Techsters on Friday would hold historical significance as Louisiana Tech is looking to become only the second women's basketball program in the history of the game to record 1,000 victories. Tech is currently sitting on 999.
Tech leads the all-time series against Nevada 19-6, including a 3-1 mark in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament. The last two years the two teams have played epic contests in the event as Nevada defeated LA Tech 91-88 in overtime in the 2009 WAC semifinals while the Lady Techsters defeated the Wolf Pack 80-77 last year in the semifinals.
The contest will feature two of the top 10 scorers in the country as LA Tech's Adrienne Johnson is averaging 21.9 points per game while Robinson is averaging 22.2 points per contest following her monster performance in Thursday night's win.
Johnson and the Lady Techsters are looking to defend last year's WAC Tournament title, a 68-66 victory over Fresno State that earned the program its 26th appearance in the NCAA tournament. Tech has won five WAC Tournament titles in nine years of affiliation in the league.
Nevada (21-9) will be looking to earn only its second appearance in the WAC Tournament finals as the Wolf Pack fell 56-49 to Fresno State in the 2009 championship game held in Reno.
