JONESBORO, Ark. –With many of its starters in foul trouble throughout the night, Louisiana Tech turned to its bench during Tuesday night's road contest against Arkansas State at First National Bank Arena.

The bench responded.

Nikki McDonald scored a career-high 19 points, Raizel Guinto added 15 points and Zhanae Whitney chipped in with nine points and 12 rebounds to lead the Lady Techsters (4-1) to an 80-70 win over the Red Wolves.  Tech won for the 38^th time in the 41 meetings between the two programs.

The victory also marked the sixth straight road win for the Lady Techsters dating back to last season.

Reigning ESPNW and Conference USA Player of the Week Kierra Anthony scored just 10 points on only six field goal attempts in just 21 minutes, but LA Tech got 48 points from its subs in winning for the second straight time on the road.

"We scored 80 and we had four in double figures and (Anthony) only had 10 points," said LA Tech head coach Brooke Stoehr. "For our team to do that is big. I thought we shot the ball the way we are capable of shooting it. I will take 11 of 25 from three every night. It gets us a little bit more room and it forces people to guard us differently. I was really proud of our balance. I thought Nikki and Raizel and Z were tremendous for us. Nikki was the difference for us in the first half. Those three threes were big."

McDonald scored 13 of her game-high 19 points in a second quarter that saw the Lady Techsters push a six-point lead out to 42-27 at halftime. The Atlanta, Georgia, native hit a trio of three-pointers in the quarter while connecting on 8-of-9 field goal attempts on the night.

"We had two starters who sat most of the second quarter in Kierra and Grayson and we had people step up in a huge way," said Stoehr, who was 8-0 against Arkansas State during her playing days in Ruston. "That's what we need. We have to have that balance. We had a couple of kids that didn't get in tonight and they can't get frustrated with that. They have to continue to work and give great effort tin practice. If they do that and they grow, I think the depth of this team will really, really show."

Guinto joined McDonald and Taylor Stahly in the three-point barrage that saw Tech connect on a season-high 11 during the game. Guinto was 3-for-7 from beyond the mark on her way to her third double digit scoring game, her second straight, while Stahly hit 4-of-11 for 16 points. Stahly extended her program record streak of consecutive games with a three-pointer to 36.

Defensively, Tech held Arkansas State's top three scorers in check for most of the night. Peyton Martin, Jireh Washington and Akasha Westbrook entered the game averaging 43 points among the trio but Tech held them to only 26 on 9-for-26 shooting.

"I thought Scott (Stoehr) did a really good job on the scout and our kids really bought into how we were going to guard them," said Stoehr. "This is a good opportunity for us. We scheduled this this way to play Sunday-Tuesday with a day in between so they could get a feel for how conference play will be. You have to be able to prepare quickly and be tough from a mental standpoint. I thought our players did a fantastic job with that."

Tech maintained its double digit lead throughout the second half. Arkansas State trimmed it down to nine twice late in the third quarter but the Lady Techsters responded each time. Tech pushed the lead out to 80-62 with three minutes remaining in the game before ASU finished the contest on an 8-0 run.

"We were up 18 and gave up some offensive rebounds," said Stoehr. "I just felt like neither team was called for a foul in second quarter and came out in third quarter and both teams lived at the free throw line. We didn't shoot that many but they shot 16. It changed the flow of the game. We were able to hit some shots and get some stops when we needed them. To be able to go on the road and get a win when we weren't at our best is big."

Arkansas State couldn't take advantage at the free throw line, missing 18 free throws on the night.

"My biggest disappointment is we put them at the free throw line 38 times," said Stoehr. "If we don't do that, then we hold them in the 50s. I thought we defended well enough to hold them down but just too many fouls."

Kierra Lang added a career-high nine assists (with only one turnover) in 17 minutes of action.

The Lady Techsters return to action Saturday when they travel to face Wichita State at 6:30 p.m.