BOCA RATON, Fla. | Louisiana Tech women's basketball capped off the 2022-23 regular season by completing the sweep over FIU and FAU with a 65-50 win over the Owls in Boca Raton to make it seven wins in the last eight games.
Keiunna Walker poured in a season-high 30 points on 13-25 shooting to go with five rebounds.
Anna Larr Roberson added 12 points and five rebounds.
Salma Bates added four points, four rebounds, and four assists, while
Silvia Nativi led on the boards with seven.
In a fast-paced back-and-forth first quarter, both teams grabbed early three-point leads, with FAU (12-17, 5-15 C-USA) striking first and LA Tech (19-11, 12-8 C-USA) answering. The Owls' second three-pointer of the period evened things up with 1:02 left in the period, but a Roberson layup gave Tech a 19-17 lead after one.
Tech built three separate six-point leads in the second, but FAU continued to connect from deep. The Owls hit three of their five first-half threes en route to a 9-2 run to grab a 38-37 lead, but Roberson answered again with two free throws to regain a one-point halftime lead (39-38).
In a frantic defensive-minded third quarter, Tech held FAU to just seven points, who only hit two of 12 attempts, but only managed ten points themselves. The Techsters would carry a four-point lead into the fourth, 49-45.
In the final stanza, two big threes by Walker and Sant gave Tech breathing room and a double-digit lead with 4:30 remaining (61-51). FAU quickly cut the lead to six, but two more jumpers from Walker extended it back to double digits. FAU would get five more points from Aniya Hubbard, but neither team scored over the final 1:15 giving Tech the FIU/FAU weekend sweep and 12 conference wins for the first time since 2016-17.
Tech's defense held FAU to 22 second-half points, including just one three and 37 percent shooting for the game. Tech hit 25-60 (.417), including 11-13 from the line (.846).
QUOTABLES
Head Coach Brooke Stoehr…
"I thought Keiunna was big. She played a very physical game on Thursday and had to bounce back from that to go for 30 on a her graduation day just shows how special she is. Today was a great day both on and off the court for us. That young woman just wants to win and displays an unbelievable amount of toughness for group. She doesn't want to be denied.
It is hard to win, especially on the road. FAU played really hard today and made it difficult. They were really good in the first half, but our third quarter was the different. We let them get too comfortable and did a great job taking advantage. I was proud of how we responded in the second half.
Being able to pull off this road sweep speaks to the work this team puts in. This is a really hard trip, but we have been playing well lately because we continue to come together and grow together. With all that, we are all 0-0 now heading into Frisco next week. This group knows what it takes to win there and we are extremely motivated."
NOTABLES
• LA Tech moves to 10-2 in the all-time series and 4-2 in games played in Boca Raton. This was Tech's first win in Boca Raton since 2017.
• Tech matches their highest conference play win total since joining Conference USA with 12 wins.
• The 19 regular-season wins are the third time Tech has 19 wins under
Brooke Stoehr.
• LA Tech's bench reached double figures for the 28
th game this season, scoring 14 points.
•
Keiunna Walker scored in double figures for the 24
th straight game and 11
th game with 20-plus with a season-high 30 points. It is her second career 30-point game.
•
Anna Larr Roberson reached double figures for the 14
th time this season with 12 points.
•
Salma Bates has 21 games this season of three-plus assists, registering four.
UP NEXT
Louisiana Tech will head to the Conference USA Championship Tournament in Frisco, Texas. The game day, time, and the opponent will be released later this evening.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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