Women’s Basketball
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.
“I am so proud of our team,” said Brooke Stoehr. “It’s finals week. We played double overtime Thursday night. Our kids were worn out, but they still found a way to win. I got to give a lot of credit to North Texas. They are a really good team, but we dug deep to win this one.”
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 Techsters finished the night shooting 43.6 percent from the field and held UNT to just 33.9%.
Keiunna Walker, coming off a triple double on Thursday, led Tech with 22 points, marking the 28th straight game in double figures.
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.
Men’s Basketball
In another classic close game between Louisiana Tech and North Texas, the Bulldogs narrowly fell to the Mean Green by a final score of 56-49 on Saturday afternoon inside The Super Pit.
“We had chances,” said Eric Konkol. “Proud of our guys for the grit and resolve that they had. This is a tough environment to come into. North Texas is obviously good and have had a great season. I thought defensively, we were really, really good. I thought our guys really emptied their tanks Defensively. Fourteen turnovers ended up being too many for us and we had some key ones down the stretch that really hurt us.”
LA Tech (20-8, 11-5 C-USA) trailed for much of the game and faced its largest deficit at 40-49 with 5:35 to go. However, the Bulldogs put together their largest run, a 9-0 spurt that included four straight points by Kenneth Lofton, Jr., a three-pointer by Amorie Archibald and a driving layup by Keaston Willis.
Unfortunately, that would be the last time the ‘Dogs found the basket. Three missed shots and two turnovers occurred in the final three minutes after tying the game up at 49-49 as the Mean Green outscored Tech 7-0 down the stretch.
Tech hosts Old Dominion at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.
Tennis
The Lady Techsters recorded five singles wins to help claim its 10th victory of the season, a 5-2 decision over Arkansas State on Sunday afternoon at the LA Tech Tennis Complex.
“The team delivered another solid win today,” said Amanda Stone. “Sometimes it is hard coming off a big win like Friday to get up for the next match, but I thought we showed a lot of mental toughness against Arkansas State. Even though doubles did not go our way, I am really proud of how we rose above and toughed out our singles. We are looking forward to tomorrow and closing out our home stand with what we hope is another good performance.”
LA Tech reached double-digit dual wins for the ninth time in the last 12 seasons (fourth time under head coach Amanda Stone).
The 10-2 start to the season is tied for the second-best start in program history (best since 2016).
LA Tech extended its winning streak to eight, the fifth longest in program history.
Tech hosts Tarleton State today at 2 p.m.
Baseball
After an emotional win over No. 8 LSU Wednesday night, the Bulldogs fell short in two of three against a talented Tulane Green Wave team at JC Love Field at Pat Patterson Park.
Tech (5-2) won 6-1 on Friday night before dropping both ends of a Sunday doubleheader by scores of 4-1 and 13-5.
“We are not defined by three or four bad innings, and that is what it was today. Offensively we weren’t good. Truly we did not pitch good for three or four innings out of the 14. We didn’t defend the field very well in those innings. We have got to put it behind us, come to work tomorrow and lift some weights.”
Tech will face Nicholls State Tuesday night in Thibodaux.
Softball
Head coach Josh Taylor and the Lady Techsters posted a 3-2 record over the weekend playing in the Mardi Gras Mambo in Youngsville.
Tech recorded wins over St. Thomas (10-2), Eastern Illinois (10-3) and Lipscomb (3-0) while falling to 2nd ranked Alabama (2-0) and Portland State (4-1).
“I was very, very pleased with our pitching all weekend,” said Taylor. “All of them threw well. (Lauren) Menzina pitched really well against Alabama on Saturday. Audrey was solid all weekend. We played a very clean game today and we were petty good defensively most of the weekend. We just need to continue to move forward in getting better in all phases.”
Senior Audrey Pickett picked up the decision in all three wins for the Lady Techsters, while Lindsay Edwards (2) and Brooke Diaz (1) hit home runs over the weekend.
Tech will face McNeese State Tuesday at 2 p.m. in Lake Charles before hosting Southeastern Wednesday at 4 p.m.
