RUSTON, La. – The Louisiana Tech women's basketball team will resume Conference USA play after the Christmas break with a trip to San Antonio on Thursday, Dec. 29 to face UTSA at 7 p.m. inside the Convocation Center.
GAME INFORMATION
Date/Time: Thursday, Dec. 29 | 7 p.m. CT
Location: Convocation Center (San Antonio, Texas)
TV/Stream: CUSA.tv
Radio: KNBB 97.7 FM | LA Tech Athletics app
Stats: LATechSports.com/Stats
ABOUT LOUISIANA TECH (7-4, 0-1 C-USA)
Louisiana Tech will look even the conference record at 1-1 after dropping their Conference USA opener at home before the break to UTEP, despite shooting over 50 percent from the field and from three.
LA Tech is 7-0 this season when holding opponents to under 60 points and 6-0 when out rebounding opponents this season. Tech is also 5-1 when reaching the 70-point mark on the year and before UTEP had reached 70 or more in four straight games.
The Tecsters have had another good defensive start to the year, ranking top-50 in the country in scoring defense (54.6 ppg) and top-30 in defensive field goal percentage (.351). Both marks are tops in C-USA.
Offensively, Tech is shooting .458 from the field and .760 from the line, ranking second in the conference. Tech leads C-USA in assists per game at 15.7, thanks in
Silvia Nativi's team-leading 49. Nativi ranks No. 5 in the NCAA in A:TO at 3.27.
Keiunna Walker and
Anna Larr Roberson lead the team in scoring with 14.7 and 13.2, respectively, but Tech's bench has been productive, averaging 24.3 ppg and producing 20-plus in nine of 11 games.
ABOUT UTSA (2-7, 0-0 C-USA)
UTSA welcomes Tech to San Antonio for their Conference USA opener after a 2-7 non-conference slate, which includes a 2-0 mark in the Convocation Center with wins over Abilene Christian (76-70) and Idaho (76-69). The Roadrunners were selected ninth in the C-USA preseason poll.
UTSA is led by former Big 12 Coach of the Year, Karen Aston, who is in her second year at the helm of the Roadrunner program. Aston has had stops at Charlotte, North Texas, and Texas, where she reached four straight Sweet 16s, including an Elite 8 appearance in 2016.
On the floor, USC transfer guard Jordyn Jenkins leads the team with 20.7 ppg and 7.6 rpg. Jenkins, a preseason All-Conference selection, has been one of the hottest players in C-USA the last two weeks, picking up back-to-back Player of the Week honors.
Jenkins earned her third POTW after a 35-point, 10-rebound effort in a 20-point, second-half comeback that ended in an overtime loss to Houston in the team's last outing. Jenkins leads C-USA in scoring as the only 20-plus player in the league.
UTSA is averaging 66 ppg on .425 shooting, while giving up 70.3 ppg on .409 shooting to opponents. Their 38.6 rpg rank No. 4 among C-USA teams, and they lead the league in blocks per game at 4.3.
THE SERIES
Thursday's game will be the 22nd overall meeting between the two programs in a series that dates to the 1984-85 season, with LA Tech taking the first-ever matchup on a neutral floor, 80-39. The two teams would not meet again until 2005-06 in a neutral setting, with Tech winning 75-67.
Tech began the series winning seven of the first eight, including the first three, followed by four wins in a row which ties the longest streak of the series. Tech won four straight again between 2019 and 2022 before UTSA took last season's meeting, 59-49, in San Antonio.
Only one meeting has reached an overtime period in series history, with Tech taking an 82-72 tilt in 2015-16. Tech has won three of the last four in San Antonio.
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