Courtesy of LA Tech Athletic Communications
FIU at Lady Techsters
The Louisiana Tech women’s basketball team will host a pair of Conference USA match-ups this week at home, beginning with the FIU Panthers tonight at 6 p.m. inside the Thomas Assembly Center on Karl Malone Court. The game can be seen on CUSA.tv. In addition, the live radio broadcast and live stats can be found on the LA Tech Athletics app.
Louisiana Tech (12-10, 5-7) dropped its lone contest of the week at Rice last Thursday 60-57 in heartbreaking fashion to suffer back-to-back losses for the second time this year.
The Techsters find themselves in a similar position from the 2021-22 season, looking to make a February push in a crowded C-USA field. Tech currently sits eighth but just two games back of the third place and still holds a firm grasp on their destiny with eight regular-season contests remaining, including four at home. Four of those eight will also be against opponents they have yet to meet in FIU and FAU.
FIU (12-10, 7-6) got off to a 3-1 start to conference play before stumbling in three straight but have won four of their last six, including their previous two over Charlotte (50-44) and UAB (84-81) at home. The Panthers are averaging 70 PPG this season, good for fourth in the league, on .396 shooting, and have hit 30 percent of their attempts from deep.
They are led by Kaliah Henderson, averaging 14.5 PPG (No. 7 in C-USA), who has had an uptick in production in conference play, scoring 16.8 per C-USA contest. Sifa Joyeuse (10.5 PPG) joins Henderson in double digits and is among league leaders in three-point percentage, hitting just un- der 38 percent of her attempts. Tanajah Hayes is one of the league leaders in assists, ranked fourth at 3.9 per game, and is No. 2 in C-USA in steals per game (2.5).
Thursday’s matchup will be the 17th overall meeting between LA Tech and FIU, with Tech holding a 15-1 lead on the all-time record. Tech is also a perfect 8-0 in games played in Ruston, including last season’s lone matchup, where the Techsters won 81-62 off Amaya Brannon’s season-high of 17 points and eight rebounds.
LA Tech won the first 11 match-ups of the series, which dates to 1998-99. FIU picked up their lone series win in Miami during the 2017-18 season (57-54). The only other one-possession game in series history was a two-point Tech victory in 2013-14 (67-65).
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Bulldogs at FIU
Louisiana Tech faces FIU tonight at 6 p.m. at Ocean Bank Convocation Center in Miami. The Panthers are one of only two C-USA teams the Bulldogs have yet to face this season.
The contest can be heard on the LA Tech Sports Radio Network on 107.5 FM and on the LA Tech Athletics app with Malcolm Butler and Jack Thigpen providing the call of the action. It will also be on ESPN+.
With eight conference games remaining, LA Tech (13-10, 6-6) is in a tie with Rice for fifth place while FIU is half a game behind in seventh.
LA Tech picked up its sixth league victory a week ago, getting the season sweep over Rice with an 80-72 victory. The Bulldogs had as much as a 24-point lead, but ended up making winning plays down the stretch to win. With the game tied up at 72-72 with 1:12 left, LA Tech closed the game out on an 8-0 run. It was one of their best offensive performances of the season, knocking down 12 three-pointers while also going 14-of-16 from the foul line.
FIU (12-12, 6-7) is one of the hottest teams in C-USA. After dropping four straight league games, the Panthers reeled off four straight victories over UTSA, WKU, Middle Tennessee, and Charlotte. That streak came to an end this past Saturday, falling 76-72 at UAB.\
The Panthers are 10-4 at home this season and 4-2 inside Ocean Bank Convocation Center during league action.
LA Tech and FIU will meet for the 17th time with the Bulldogs holding a slim 9-7 advantage in the series. LA Tech have been league foes in two different conferences — Sun Belt Conference (1998-01) and Conference USA (2013-present).
Since the two became C-USA opponents, the Bulldogs own a 6-4 advantage in the series. The two teams have matched three-game winning streaks over the last five seasons.
