Courtesy of LA Tech Athletic Communications
Lady Techsters 71, UAB 65
Keiunna Walker scored 29 points to lead Louisiana Tech to a 71-65 win over UAB in the 2022 Conference USA quarterfinals Thursday afternoon at the Ford Center at the Star.
With the win, Tech (20-10) will face Middle Tennessee in a semifinal contest tonight at 7 p.m. The winner will advance to the C-USA Championship game set for Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
Walker was nearly unstoppable on Thursday, hitting 11-of-20 field goals and 7-of-10 free throws and making big play after big play down the stretch.
“I am very proud of this group for their effort today,” said Tech head coach Brooke Stoehr. “It is March and, in the postseason, you’re just trying to continue to advance to play another day. This group has been ready to play since Monday and sometimes it can be difficult to stay patient and then perform. We were able to get stops when we needed them in the fourth quarter.
“Randy does such a great job with his group, and I knew they would make a run in the second half. Keiunna was able to get to the rim and score some critical baskets for us when they were making their run. We had a balanced scoring effort today and that’s what we’ll need as we continue to advance.”
Freshman Amaya Brannon scored 11 points, Salma Bates added 10 points and Robyn Lee nine points as the Lady Techsters led for all but 29 seconds of the contest.
Tech lead 35-26 at halftime but saw UAB make a number of runs in the third and fourth quarters. With the game on the line in the fourth quarter, Tech forced UAB into missing eight of its last 10 field goals as the Lady Techsters held on for the win.
Anna Larr Roberson led Tech with 10 points.
The win was the 100th of Brooke Stoehr’s career in Ruston.
Tonight’s game can be heard on the LA Tech Sports Network on 97.7 FM and the Louisiana Tech Athletics app.
Bulldogs 59, WKU 57
Kenneth Lofton, Jr., made a huge bucket, late free throw and grabbed a huge defensive rebound all in the last 60 seconds of play as Louisiana Tech defeated WKU 59-57 in a quarterfinal match-up at the 2022 Conference USA Championships at the Ford Center at the Star.
Tech (23-9) trailed 57-54 with 3:47 to play, but the Bulldogs defense held the Hilltoppers (19-13) without a point the rest of the way. However, the game wasn’t decided until a desperation three-pointer from 35-feet out at the buzzer came up short.
With the win, Tech will now face North Texas. Tipoff today is at 11:30 a.m. The game can be heard on the LA Tech Sports Network on 107.5 FM and the Louisiana Tech Athletics app.
“That was a heck of a game,” said Tech head coach Eric Konkol. “We talked in the locker room before the game about having great grit and passion. I thought we came out with some incredible passion. We were able to attack their zone to get off to a good start.
“WKU persevered, then we had to persevere. We turned the ball over a number of times, did not shoot it great in the second half, but I give this team so much credit of finding a way. They showed incredible grit and toughness to find a way to win. It was a hard-fought victory tonight.”
LA Tech (23-9) had to overcome a season-high 20 turnovers to survive and advance to the semifinals. They also had to overcome seeing its 14-point lead disappear.
That lead was capped by a David Green three-pointer, one of seven triples by the ‘Dogs in the first stanza, to build a 31-17 advantage with 6:06 to go. WKU abandoned its zone defense after the hot shooting by Keaston Willis, David Green and others from long range, and started applying more pressure on the basketball.
Tech led 36-33 at the half.
WKU tied the game up at 38-38 and eventually took their first lead of the game on a made triple by Josh Anderson to go up 50-49 with 9:36 remaining. Willis would give the ‘Dogs the lead back with his fifth three-pointer of the game. After a made jumper by Lofton made it 54-50 in favor of LA Tech, WKU countered with a 7-0 run to take a three-point lead with 3:47 left.
That would be the last time the Hilltoppers score as they missed their last four field goal attempts as well as their last three free throw attempts. On the flipside, Willis went bank on a running floater and Junior muscled up a layup with 24 seconds remaining to go up one. He also pulled down a key defensive rebound on a missed free throw by WKU to help close things out.
