RUSTON, La. – Louisiana Tech took sole possession of first place in conference USA's West Division standings tonight with a 62-54 win over North Texas inside the Thomas Assembly Center in Ruston, La.
The win over North Texas (14-11, 8-7 C-USA) coupled with Southern Miss losing earlier in the day to Rice, moved LA Tech (17-10, 9-7 C-USA) a half-game ahead in first with a week left to play in the regular season.
The Lady Techsters got off to a good start in the game using an 11-2 run to open the first five minutes of play. From there, both teams swapped 6-0 runs ending the first quarter 17-8.
Tech was able to slowly add to the lead over the second quarter and settled in at the half up 12 (35-23), thanks to six points off the bench from
Robyn Lee.
Tech built their largest lead of the game to 14 early in the third quarter (39-24) after a jumper from
Keiunna Walker, who finished the night with a game-high 22 points extending her double figures scoring streak to 28 games. Walker was one rebound shy of a double-double.
From there, North Texas then used a 10-0 run over the next four minutes to cut the lead down to four (39-35) as tired legs started to catch up with the Techsters who saw a stretch where they went just 2-15 from the field.
North Texas was able to trim the lead to just one (45-44) with 7:26 left in the game when
Amaya Brannon hit a big corner three which fueled a 9-2 run and stretched the lead back to eight (54-46) with five minutes remaining. Brannon finished the night with nine points.
Free Throws and big defensive stops including a
Salma Bates steal and layup kept North Texas at a distance down the stretch.
The Techsters finished the night shooting 43.6 percent from the field and held UNT to just 33.9%.
Anna Larr Roberson, who battled foul trouble most of the second half, finished with eight points and six rebounds. Bates added eight of her own while
Kate Thompson contributed seven.
NOTABLES
•LA Tech now leads the all-time series 15-4 and is 7-2 in games played in Ruston. The Techsters completed the season series sweep tonight.
•The Techsters are now 11-2 at home this season and are also now 16-1 when leading at the half
•Tech is also 11-3 when holding an opponent to under 60 points and 16-2 when topping 60 points.
•
Keiunna Walker has now scored in double figures 28 straight games including every game this season. She is the only player in C-USA to do so this season.
•Walker took three more charges, all in the first quarter, and now has a team-leading 37 on the year.
•
Anna Larr Roberson's double-digit scoring streak was snapped tonight at 19 games.
UP NEXT
The Lady Techsters travel to Norfolk, Va. to take on Old Dominion in their last road game of the regular season next Wednesday, Mar. 2 at 5:30 p.m. CT inside the Chartway Arena.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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