Jan. 22, 2012

Box Score

Weatherspoon Audio

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Louisiana Tech senior Shantale Bramble-Donaldson posted a career night to lead the Lady Techsters to a 70-64 win over San Jose State in Western Athletic Conference action Saturday night before 1,447 fans at the Events Center.

Bramble-Donaldson scored a career-high 20 points and grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds in 36 minutes of action and Whitney Jones chipped in with 16 points as LA Tech (9-10, 2-2 WAC) snapped the Spartans (7-11, 2-1 WAC) four-game winning streak.

"Shantale did exactly what we asked of her tonight in the painted area," said Tech head coach Teresa Weatherspoon. "Brittany Johnson has a lot of (moves inside). We wanted Shantale to make sure that every time the ball went in the paint to (Johnson) that she made her go through her, over her to score; then turn around, box out and get the rebound. She is loaded with talent. Tonight she really showed what she is all about. She had a great night of putting forth the effort. She had the mentality she was going to get it done on both ends of the floor."

Two nights after scoring a season-low 46 points and shooting a season-low 26 percent from the field in a loss at Hawaii, the Lady Techsters responded using a 15-0 run early in the first half to build a lead they would never relinquish.

After San Jose State scored the first seven points of the game to take a 7-0 lead, the Lady Techsters answered as Jones and Jasmine Bendolph hit back-to-back three-pointers to ignite a 15-0 run which was capped by a Whitney Frazier layup at the 14:53 mark of the opening stanza. Tech hit 6-of-8 field goal attempts during the run.

"I really believe confidence plays such a large part in this game," Weatherspoon said. "You have to step between the four lines and be confident. We didn't have a very good shooting night against Hawaii although we had every open shot possible. We just didn't knock them down. We shot well in practice yesterday. It was a positive practice.

"We told the players to trust in themselves and keep a positive mentality. They shot the ball well yesterday and built confidence and came out tonight and brought that to the floor. If you don't believe that what you do in practice translates to the game, you better believe it. That's what I saw tonight."

Tech maintained a four to seven point lead the majority of the first half until Myesha Broaden's layup at the 6:30 mark closed the gap to 28-26. Angie Felton answered with a three-pointer and Courtney Hayes followed with a layup with 5:15 to play in the stanza as Tech's advantage increased to 33-26. However, the Lady Techsters wouldn't make a field goal the rest of the half.

Despite missing its final seven shot attempts of the half, Tech held a 37-33 halftime lead as the Lady Techsters limited San Jose State to only 32 percent (14-43) shooting.

Jones led Tech with 10 points in the first half while Felton added eight and Bramble-Donaldson six. Johnson led the Spartans with 11 first half points.

Tech came out even stronger in the second half, outscoring the Spartans 13-1 to start the stanza as Kiara Young's layup with 14:31 to play in the game upped the Lady Techsters advantage to 50-34 - its biggest of the game.

The Spartans, who entered the game having won six of their last eight games and off to their best WAC start in more than six years, wouldn't hang up their sneakers easily though as a 13-2 run during the next five minutes cut the deficit down to five as a pair of Johnson free throws made the score 52-47.

A conventional three-point play by Bramble-Donaldson and a pair of three-pointers by Jones over the next four minutes helped the Lady Techsters extend the advantage out to double figures at 64-53 with 5:18 to play in the game.

Brea Matthews scored five straight for SJSU and Sara Plavljanin's layup with 36 seconds to play brought the Spartans to within 68-64. However, despite hitting only 2-of-6 free throws in the final minute of play, Tech held on for the win.

In addition to Bramble-Donaldon and Jones' big nights, Bendolph added nine points and five assists while Frazier chipped in with eight points and a career-high tying eight rebounds. Young added five points and nine boards.

For the game, Tech shot 42 percent (27-65) from the field and 9-of-26 from the three-point line while SJSU hit only 34 percent (24-71) from the field. The Spartans did connect on 13-of-24 from the free throw line compared to only 7-of-12 for the Lady Techsters.

Johnson led San Jose State with 18 points and 10 rebounds but hit only 7-of-24 field goal attempts while Ta'Rea Cunnigan added 17 points and Plavljanin scored 14 points.

The Lady Techsters return to action Saturday when they travel to face New Mexico State at 4:30 p.m. CT.