OXFORD, Miss. – Two teams coming off disappointing performances will square off Saturday when Louisiana Tech travels to face Ole Miss at 2 p.m. at the Pavilion in Ole Miss.
The contest can be heard on KNBB 97.7 FM with the pregame show starting at 1:30 p.m. Fans can also watch the game streamed on the SEC Network Plus with Seth Austin and Lindsay Roy providing the call.
Tech (2-1) enters the match-up on the heels of an 88-80 loss to Wichita State at home Wednesday night while Ole Miss (2-2) has dropped back-to-back games to New Orleans (69-64) and Southern Miss (59-53).
"(Ole Miss is) hungry for a win," said Tech head coach
Brooke Stoehr. "They have two losses back to back, and we are going to get them on a Saturday afternoon at their place. They are going to play with energy, and they are going to rebound the basketball. We have to correct those two areas on our end. We have to see a response from this group. We have to compete mentally and we have to compete physically."
Tech enters the game as the No. 1 scoring team in Conference USA through the first few weeks of the season, averaging 85.3 points per outing. Five different Lady Techsters are averaging double figures in scoring led by
Grayson Bright (14.0 ppg, 8.3 rpg),
Keiunna Walker (12.0 ppg, 2.0 spg),
Amber Dixon (10.7 ppg, 2.3 apg),
Amber Hawkison (10.7 ppg, 3.0 spg) and
Raizel Guinto (10.7 ppg, 3.3 spg).
The Lady Techsters scored a program record 36 points in the fourth quarter of Wednesday's loss to Wichita State, cutting a 33-point deficit down to six with less than a minute to play before falling in the contest. Tech ranks No. 1 in C-USA in steals per game at 15.3 although Stoehr knows her team has to play better on the defensive end of the floor. Opponents are averaging 74.3 points and shoot 44 percent from the field.
Ole Miss is led by guard Deja Cage (14.3 ppg, 3.0 apg) and guard Jayla Alexander (10.5 ppg, 6-16 three-pointers) while Taylor Smith (7.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg), Dominique Banks (7.3 ppg, 7.0 rpg) and Valerie Nesbit (7.0 ppg) have also contributed offensively.
Tech leads the all-time series against Ole Miss 7-2, including an 80-71 victory last year in Ruston.
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