Final Stats

RUSTON ââ'¬" Alexus Malone scored 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and Louisiana Tech held North Texas to only 25 percent shooting in the second half as the Lady Techsters defeated the Mean Green 65-49 Thursday night at the Thomas Assembly Center.

Tech (16-11, 11-5) won its sixth straight game, the longest winning streak since the 2010-11 Lady Techsters won 14 straight on their way to the NCAA Tournament. The victory also snapped a five-game winning streak for North Texas (11-15, 8-7 C-USA). The win assured LA Tech of a winning season.

With the victory, Tech remains in a two-way tie with Southern Miss for third place in the Conference USA standings, one-half game ahead of Old Dominion.

"I thought we really played well defensively tonight," said Tech head coach Brooke Stoehr. "I thought we missed a couple of their shooters early in the game and they knocked some three-pointers down. However, the second half we really played well on the defensive end. That allowed us to win this game."

Offensively, the Lady Techsters shot 51 percent (20-39) from the field, 2-of-3 from the free throw line and 23-of-29 from the free throw line. However, Tech committed 21 turnovers which allowed North Texas to stay close through the first three quarters.

"We have been doing a good job recently of taking care of the basketball," said Stoehr. "Twenty-one turnovers tonight are way too many. We had a lot of offensive fouls called which are turnovers so that didn't help. One of the last things I told them in the locker room before the game was that we had to play on two feet. But we kept leaving our feet and it kept costing us. Give North Texas a lot of credit. They really get after you defensively."

Behind some early three-point shooting, North Texas grabbed a 10-4 lead thanks to a pair of three-pointers by NT guard Candice Adams. The Mean Green hit 5 of their first 7 three-pointers, including 4-of-4 in an opening quarter that still saw LA Tech end with a 17-13 advantage.

Tech led 28-25 at halftime in a low scoring contest. The third quarter wouldn't help either team's offensive numbers.

Both teams had a golden opportunity in the third quarter if they could have gotten any type of offensive rhythm as neither team could score. Tech shot 2-of-7 from the field while North Texas shot just 2-of-12. The Lady Techsters outscored NT 10-6 in the frame, allowing Tech to take a 38-31 lead into the final quarter.

Finally, the Techsters got hot. Tech hit 7-of-9 field goals and 12-of-14 free throws, scoring 27 points over the final 10 minutes of action. Most of the offense came in the form of paint points as Tech outscored North Texas 32-14 inside led by Malone and Jasmine LeBlanc's 15 points.

Tech outrebounded North Texas 35-21, marking the fifth straight game that the Lady Techsters have outrebounded their opponent by 13 or more rebounds.

Kierra Anthony added 11 points.

North Texas was led by Kelsey Criner and Adrianna Henderson with 9 points each.

Tech will play its final home game of the year Saturday at 7 p.m. against Rice. It will be senior day for Rochelle Vasquez, Kevione Moten and Ashley Santos.