RUSTON | The Louisiana Tech women's basketball team begins the Conference USA Championship Tournament tomorrow, Thursday, Mar. 9, at 11:30 a.m. in Frisco, Texas, inside the Ford Center at The Star. The game can be seen on ESPN+. In addition, the live radio broadcast and live stats can be found on the LA Tech Athletics app.
GAME INFORMATION
Date/Time: Thursday, Mar. 9 | 11:30 a.m. CT
Location: Ford Center at The Star | Frisco, Texas
TV/Stream: ESPN+
Talent: Chris Mycoskie (PxP) | Kyle Youmans (Analyst)
Radio: KNBB 97.7 FM | LA Tech Athletics app
Stats: LATechSports.com/Stats | LA Tech Athletics app
ABOUT LOUISIANA TECH (19-11, 12-8 C-USA)
Louisiana Tech finished the regular season, winning seven of their last eight contests to finish in a tie for fourth with UTEP in the Conference USA standings.
Tech's 19 regular season wins matched last year's total and are the third time Coach Stoehr has reached the 19-win mark. The 12 conference wins also match the most for LA Tech since joining C-USA.
Keiunna Walker and
Anna Larr Roberson were named to the 2022-23 All-Conference Teams on Tuesday. Walker picked up the first-team and all-defensive honors, while Roberson earned a second-team mention.
Walker currently ranks No. 8 on the all-time scoring list with 1,940 points. Roberson sits at No. 34 on the all-time list with 1,224 points.
LA Tech finished the regular season leading Conference USA in three-point percentage (.337). In addition, it ranked No. 2 in C-USA in field goal percentage (.443), free throw percentage (.765), defensive field goal percentage (.386), and scoring defense (60.8 PPG). Tech is also top-five in assist-to-turnover ratio (0.88) and blocks per game (2.8).
This season, the magic marks have been holding teams under 60 points, where Tech is a perfect 11-0, and outrebounding opponents, where they are also 11-0. Tech is also 10-1 when scoring more than 70 points.
ABOUT UTEP (19-10, 12-8 C-USA)
UTEP got off to a 5-0 start to the non-conference portion of their schedule and a 5-1 start to C-USA play, which included the two wins over LA Tech. They then split four of the next eight before winning four of five but dropped the last two games of the regular season to WKU and Middle Tennessee.
UTEP's offense features a balanced attack with three players in double figures led by North Texas transfer Jazion Jackson adds 12.2 PPG, followed by Oklahoma State transfer N'Yah Boyd (12.7 PPG) and Elina Arike (11.5 PPG).
Avery Crouse comes in just under double figures at 9.4 PPG. Adhel Tac leads the team in rebounding at 6.3 RPG and 8.0 PPG.
Jackson earned First-Team All-Conference honors, while Arike was named Defensive Player of the Year and picked up a Second-Team mention.
Baker was also named Co-Coach of the Year for C-USA alongside Rick Insell.
UTEP enters Saturday with a top-three scoring defense at 64.0 PPG and second in the league in assists per game at 13.8.
THE SERIES
Saturday's game will mark the 27th overall meeting between LA Tech and UTEP, but only second in a neutral setting, with Tech holding a 1-0 lead.
The series began in 2001-02 with Tech winning in Ruston 90-53, which started a LA Tech nine-game win streak.
UTEP then won six of the next seven, followed by four in a row from the Techsters.
LA Tech and UTEP have swapped season sweeps, with UTEP taking both in 2020-21, Tech rebounding last season, and UTEP winning both contests this season.
The series has only featured five final scores that were decided by two possessions or less, one of which was the last meeting on Jan. 7 (72-66).
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 was also the only game to reach the 100-point mark. The lowest-scoring game came in 2020-21 in a 61-58 UTEP win.
This is the third conference tournament matchup, with UTEP winning 81-72 in the 2014 quarterfinals. Tech won 74-47 in the semifinals of the 2004 WAC Tournament.
SOCIAL MEDIA
For all the latest in Lady Techsters Basketball, follow them on Twitter (@LATechWBB), Instagram (@LATechWBB), and Facebook (LATechWBB).
