RUSTON, La. – The Louisiana Tech women's basketball team will play their first road contest of the 2023 calendar year with a trip to El Paso, Texas to face UTEP on Saturday, Jan. 7, at 2 p.m. CT inside the Don Haskins Center. The game will serve as the season-finale between the two teams.
GAME INFORMATION
Date/Time: Saturday, Jan. 7 | 2 p.m. CT
Location: Don Haskins Center (El Paso, Texas)
TV/Stream: CUSA.tv
Radio: KNBB 97.7 FM | LA Tech Athletics app
Stats: LATechSports.com/Stats | LA Tech Athletics app
ABOUT LOUISIANA TECH (9-5, 2-2 C-USA)
LA Tech evened up their conference record and earned win No. 598 all-time in Ruston with a 79-74 home win over Rice Thursday night behind a season-high 26 points from
Keiunna Walker. Walker moved passed Shanavia Dowdell for No. 18 on the all-time scoring list with 1,622 career points.
Salma Bates and
Amaya Brannon added 15 points in the win, while
Lotte Sant and
Gabbie Green combined 5-10 from deep en route to a season-high nine made threes in the game. Tech has hit six or more threes in their last four outings.
Mackenzie Wurm has filled in nicely for
Anna Larr Roberson, starting the last three contests and providing a defensive presence, blocking nine shots over the three-game span. Wurm has averaged 5.6 PPG, 4.6 RPG, and 3 BPG on 5-14 shooting and 7-9 stint from the line in 21 minutes per game.
Tech's 79 points were second-most of the season, and the 74 points allowed marked the first win when giving up more than 60 points.
Offensively, Tech has reached the 70-point mark in half their games this season, while Tech's defense has proved to be one of the best in the conference. Tech ranks second in defensive scoring (58.4 PPG) and defensive field goal percentage (.361), which is good for top-50 nationally.
LA Tech is 8-0 this season when holding opponents to under 60 points and 7-1 when reaching the 60-point mark. Tech is also 6-0 when out rebounding the opposition this season and 8-1 when holding opponents to a sub-40 field goal percentage.
ABOUT UTEP (9-2, 2-1 C-USA)
UTEP is currently in third place in the Conference USA standings after being selected eighth in the C-USA preseason poll and boasts a perfect 5-0 record at home this season.
The Miners got off to a hot 5-0 start to their non-conference slate before splitting their last four heading into C-USA play, where they earned a 2-1 start with a road win over Tech in the opener (62-54) and beat UAB at home (76-58) before falling to Rice in Houston (53-62).
UTEP will welcome Tech to El Paso with fresh legs, having had this past Thursday night off.
On the court, the Miners are led by three players in double figures, including Mahri Petree at 14.5 PPG. Petree is a former Mountain Valley Conference All-Freshman performer for Bradley's 2021 NCAA tournament team. Oklahoma State transfer N'Yah Boyd (12.7 PPG) and Avery Crouse (10.0 PPG) join Petree in double figures.
North Texas transfer Jazion Jackson and 6-2 sophomore Elina Arike are contributing 9.7 and 9.1 PPG, respectively, while Tac Adhel leads the team in rebounding with 6.9 per contest. Adhel registered a 12-point, 12-rebound double-double against Tech in the opener, while Jackson had a game-high 17 points and eight rebounds in the win.
UTEP enters Saturday with a top-three scoring defense at 59.5 PPG and are also top-five in C-USA in steals per game at 7.75.
THE SERIES
Saturday's game will mark the 26th overall meeting between LA Tech and UTEP and the 14th meeting in El Paso, where Tech holdd an 8-5 edge in the desert.
LA Tech began the series on a nine-game winning streak, beginning in the 2001-02 season before UTEP took six of the next seven. Tech responded with four in a row before UTEP and Tech alternating series' sweeps the last two seasons.
The series has only featured four final scores decided by two possessions or less. UTEP took the C-USA opener this season in Ruston, 62-54.
The largest margin of victory was a 54-point Tech win in 2002- 03 (108-54), which is the only game to reach the 100-point mark. The lowest scoring game came in 2020-21 in a 61-58 UTEP win.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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