SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Louisiana Tech finally clicked on all cylinders Saturday afternoon as the Lady Techsters defeated UTSA 74-48 at the Convocation Center to complete the two-game sweep.
Well, almost all cylinders.
Tech (9-3, 4-2 C-USA) shot a season-high 58 percent from the field, outrebounded the Roadrunners by 14 and held its sixth straight Conference USA opponent to under 61 points in recording its third straight victory – its second in as many days.
Only 19 turnovers marred an otherwise spotlight postgame stat sheet.
"It's been a minute since we have seen 70 on the scoreboard so that's good to see," said LA Tech head coach
Brooke Stoehr. "We shot 58 percent for the game and that is what this team is capable of doing. We only attempted four three-pointers but I didn't think we had to. Aside from the turnovers, I think we played a really clean game today."
Tech dominated in the paint, outscoring UTSA (2-9, 0-6 C-USA) 50-16 on points in the paint thanks in large part to the play of Bre Harris and
Anna Larr Roberson. Harris scored 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds while Roberson added 14 points and seven boards as the duo combined to hit 14 of 23 field goal attempts.
"I just thought we responded," said Stoehr. "I thought Bre and Anna Larr were really, really solid inside. We went to them early. I thought Bre was really solid and had really good focus. Anna Larr came in and gave us some really good minutes. It was good to see some signs of life with her on the boards. We were able to throw it inside and our posts finished. We knew they were going to play behind in the post and we just needed our guards to throw the ball inside to them and let them go to work."
Keiunna Walker recorded another 20-point performance, adding a career-high tying seven rebounds while drawing four more charges on the defensive end of the floor. Walker now has 24 charges drawn on the season.
Tech outrebounded UTSA 45-31.
"I thought the difference was on the boards," said Stoehr. "We were plus 14 although we did give up 15 offensive rebounds. I thought we did a much better job tonight of going and getting some defensive rebounds, and boxing out, that led to some transition. They got some offensive rebounds late to get those numbers up but I thought we did a really good job."
Tech led just 29-25 at the break before using another big second half. The Lady Techsters held a 37-30 advantage midway through the third quarter before going on a 22-1 run over the next nine minutes to pull away.
"We held them at 31 points for the longest time," said Stoehr.
Amber Dixon, who played only four minutes in the first half, helped ignite the game-decisive run. Dixon ended with seven points, five rebounds and five assists – most of its coming over the final 15 minutes of the game.
"We needed her to be better from the opening tip," said Stoehr. "We watched (last night's game) this morning and talked through it and she understands. I thought she responded beautifully in the second half today. She really defended well in the second half and got five rebounds.
"And we need that from her. She had some great passes to our posts where she drove and it led to easy layups for our post players. She had five assists and we need that from her. I thought she really responded well during that stretch and I thought that's why we were able to push the lead out."
Monette Bolden added seven points and a career-high six rebounds off the bench.
LA Tech returns home to host UTEP this weekend in a two-game league series.