Denton, Texas – The Louisiana Tech women's basketball team responded in a big way on the road in Denton, Texas Saturday night taking down the North Texas Mean Green 72-60 inside The Super Pit.
Fueled by four Lady Techsters in double figures including a career-high 17 points from sophomore point guard
Salma Bates (5-8 FG, 6-6 FT), Louisiana Tech (11-8, 3-5 C-USA) kept pace in a very entertaining back-and-forth game with North Texas (8-9, 2-5 C-USA) for three quarters and eventually pulled away over the final six minutes of the contest.
The Lady Techsters got an early spark off the bench from freshman
Amaya Brannon who scored seven of her nine points in the first six minutes to give the Tech a 12-6 lead.
North Texas made their first response of the night putting together a 12-1 run over the next six minutes to take the lead 18-17 with 8:35 to play in the half.
The two teams spent the rest of the half exchanging blows and trading buckets as Bates closed the second quarter nailing three at the buzzer making it a one-point game (34-33) at the break.
The Techsters again closed a quarter strong with a 5-0 run in the final minute of the third thanks from a three from
Keiunna Walker and another last second bucket off a designed play for
Anna Larr Roberson. Tech led 53-49 going into the final ten minutes.
The two teams remained locked until the final six minutes when Walker took control and played the role of closer scoring nine of her game-high 19 in the final minutes of the fourth.
Bates then add some insurance hitting all four of her three-throws down the stretch to end any hopes of a North Texas comeback.
In their best shooting night of conference play, the Techsters finished 26-59 (.509) including 5-11 from three and hit nine of their 11 free-throws.
The Techsters defense also responded tonight holding North Texas to ten points and 12 rebounds under their season averages.
Sophomore
Robyn Lee added 12 points joining Walker, Bates, and Roberson (10 points, 9 rebounds) in double figures.
NOTABLES
- Louisiana Tech is now 14-4 vs North Texas all-time and 6-1 in games played in Denton.
- Keiunna Walker has now scored in double-figures in 20 straight games and is one of three players in C-USA to have scored in double-figures in every game this season (Savannah Wheeler- Marshall and Zakyia Weathersby – UAB).
- Anna Larr Roberson surpassed 500th rebounds for her career. She is the No. 2 rebounder in C-USA averaging 9.4 a game.
- Roberson also had her 12th straight game in double-figures, and 16th game this season.
- Roberson, the league leader in free-throw percentage (0.85) did not have an attempt for the second straight game. Her current streak of made free-throw stills sits at 19.
- Techsters shot their third highest percentage from the floor tonight (.509).
- LA Tech outscored North Texas in the paint 40-28 and 21-8 in bench points.
- Tech out rebounded North Texas 35-28. They are 9-1 when out rebounding their opponents.
- Tech is now 7-0 on the year when scoring 70 or more points.
QUOTABLES
Head Coach Brooke Stoehr…
"I'm incredibly proud of the grit and toughness this team showed today on the road. We had really good balance offensively and huge contributions from the bench. Amaya and Robyn stepped up big time for us especially in the second quarter when Keiunna and Anna Larr were in foul trouble. Salma was so solid today and was aggressive when we needed her to be. We were connected defensively and communicated very well. The job we did on the boards against a talented North Texas group today was critical to being able to secure the road win. We have to learn and grow from this experience like we have in the previous weeks and keep building."
UP NEXT
After playing eight of their last 10 games on the road, The Lady Techsters return home to the Thomas Assembly Center for a conference USA matchup against FAU Thursday, Feb. 3 at 6:30 p.m.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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