No. 7 Louisiana Tech cruises to 82-53 win over Wahine
Advertiser Staff
Seventh-ranked Louisiana Tech blew by the University of Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine in the first half last night and rolled to an 82-53 Western Athletic Conference basketball victory at Thomas Assembly Center in Ruston, La.
A crowd of 4,167 came to watch a showdown between the WAC's top two teams. Most went home happy, while UH (15-5) goes to SMU tomorrow in fourth place, now a half-game behind Rice and Tulsa.
Tech (17-3) never trailed. It outscored Hawai'i 25-8 to close the half with a 46-22 advantage, then cruised through the final 20 minutes without letting its lead get below 22.
The Lady Techsters have won their past 15, including all 12 WAC games. They have won their past 64 regular-season conference games, a streak dating to 1998. Tech came into the WAC this season after winning the last nine Sun Belt titles.
The Rainbow Wahine, who lost to Tech by 12 at home last month, put up little resistance this time. They dropped to 8-3 in the WAC with their first loss in six games.
With Christen Roper and her backup, Kim Willoughby, getting into early foul trouble, the Lady Techsters pounded the ball inside to Cheryl Ford (17 points) and Ayana Walker (10). When they weren't open, they dumped it outside where Erica Smith (14), Amber Obaze (13) and Brooke Lassiter (10) were equally effective.
"We were going to help inside and force them to kick it out and beat us on the perimeter," Goo said. "They hit some big shots in the first half."
Louisiana Tech, which had beaten WAC teams by an average of 32 points before last night, pulled ahead 59-34 early in the second half; Hawai'i had been holding teams to 58 points a game. The Lady Techsters also out-rebounded UH 47-29.
"We battled, but we didn't keep them off the boards as much as we should have," Goo said. "In the first half, we had good shots, we were just not finishing. And defensively, we'd do OK in spurts but we didn't control the tempo. We did a lot better in the second half."
Freshman Chelsea Wagner was the lone UH bright spot on offense. In her third start, she got her second successive career high with 18 points, attempting a school record 12 3-pointers.
