Box Score March 20, 2011
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BOSSIER CITY, La. - Rutgers held Louisiana Tech to a season-low in points as the Scarlet Knights defeated the Lady Techsters 76-51 in the first round of the 2011 NCAA Tournament before 5,377 fans at the CenturyTel Center Sunday night.
With the victory, Rutgers (20-12) advanced to Tuesday night's second round against Texas A&M, an 87-47 winner over McNeese State in the first game of the day.
LA Tech ends a successful season 24-8, including a Western Athletic Conference regular season title and the program's 27th appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
After the two teams played to a 14-14 tie through the first nine minutes of the game, Rutgers used a decisive 25-7 run over the final 11 minutes of the opening stanza to grab a 39-21 halftime advantage.
"Tonight was a game that was very tough on us," said Tech head coach Teresa Weatherspoon. "It kind of got away from us early, but our kids never stopped fighting, scratching and clawing to the very end. Rutgers did exactly what they said they would do ... they brought a lot of bodies after Adrienne Johnson."
Johnson helped Tech keep it close early, scoring nine points as her conventional three-point play at the 11:17 mark of the half tied the game at 14-14. However, Tech hit only 8-of-29 field goals in the first half, including only 1-of-10 from the three-point line, against the Rutgers 2-3 zone.
Johnson and Brietta Thomas combined to 8-of-17 field goals in the opening 20 minutes while combining for 20 of the 21 halftime points. However, the rest of the Tech team shot 0-for-12 from the field with Jasmine Bendolph scoring the only other point on a free throw.
"We knew if we could knock down some shots, we would remain in the game," Weatherspoon said. "Unfortunately, tonight the ball did not go in for us. Our kids never stopped fighting because there is a lot of pride in the Lady Techster program."
Meanwhile, Rutgers guard April Sykes hit 7-of-12 field goals, including a pair of three-pointers, to score 16 first half points while the Scarlet Knights shot 47 percent (15-of-32) in the opening half.
After Rutgers opened up a 21-point lead at 42-21 early in the second half, the Lady Techsters used a small run ignited by junior forward Shantale Bramble-Donaldson to pull to within 45-28 with 15:42 to play. Bramble-Donaldson, who ended the game with eight points and eight rebounds, scored five points during the run.
Four straight Rutgers layups over the next two minutes pushed the advantage back out to 53-28 as the lead increased to as many as 27 at 61-34. Tech used another spurt capped by an Angie Felton three-pointer at the 6:08 mark of the game to close the deficit down to 63-42.
Senior guard Martina Holloway, playing in her last game, capped Tech's scoring with a three-pointer with 23 seconds to play to end the scoring for both teams.
Johnson led Tech with 20 points, six rebounds, four steals and two blocks. She ends her Lady Techster career with 1,985 points - the fifth most in the history of the program.
Thomas added 12 points and seven rebounds in her final game in a Lady Techster uniform.
Sykes led Rutgers with 22 points while Khadijah Rushdan added 16 points and 10 rebounds and Chelsey Lee scored 11 points and grabbed 11 boards.
For the game, Tech shot only 27 percent (17-of-63) from the field, including only 3-of-23 from beyond the arc. Rutgers hit 51 percent (28-55) of their shots while outrebounding Tech 44-34.
The Lady Techsters committed only 10 turnovers in the game.
Tech's senior class of Johnson, Thomas, Holloway and Tarkeisha Wysinger-Mackey led Tech to four straight winning seasons, including three 20-plus win seasons, three Western Athletic Conference titles (two regular season and one tournament) and three postseason appearances (2 NCAA, 1 WNIT).
