Courtesy of LA Tech Athletic Communications
WKU at Lady Techsters
The Louisiana Tech women’s basketball team plays their final two regular season home games beginning with WKU tonight at 6 p.m. inside the Thomas Assembly Center on Karl Malone Court.
WKU defeated Tech 66-55 in the first meeting of the year on Jan. 19 in Bowling Green. Tonight’s game can be heard on 97.7 FM and the LA Tech Athletics app as well as seen with a paid subscription to CUSA.tv.
Louisiana Tech (16-10, 9-7) comes into Thursday riding their longest winning streak of the season at four games after sweeping North Texas and Charlotte on the road last week. Tech beat UNT 57-44 and took out Charlotte 83-79 in a double-overtime thriller.
Keiunna Walker earned her second C-USA Player of the Week award, posting her second career double-double with 27 points and 14 rebounds with five assists and four drawn charges at Charlotte. Lotte Sant continues to shoot the ball well in conference, hitting 52.1 percent from three (38-73) in league play this season. She is two threes away from moving into No. 6 on the all-time three-point makes list ahead of Debra Williams.
Tech is 11-0 this season when holding teams to less than 60 points and 10-0 when out-rebounding the opposition. Tech is also 9-1 when scoring more than 70.
Western Kentucky (14-11, 11-5) struggled to replace last season’s all-conference player, Meral Abdelgawad, early in the season, dropping five of their first six non-conference but have since risen among the top of the league standings (No. 2) after a stretch of winning nine of ten. However, the Hilltoppers come into Ruston, dropping two of their last three.
WKU holds a 6-7 record on the road this season, including a 5-3 mark in the conference.
WKU is led on the court by the double-digit scoring duo of Jaylin Foster and Acadia Hayes, one of the league’s most productive freshmen this season. Foster is averaging 10.2 PPG to go with 6.0 RPG, while Hayes puts up 10.1 PPG on .463 shooting, including a .339 clip from three.
Tonight’s matchup will be the 53rd overall between LA Tech and WKU. LA Tech leads the all-time series 27-25, but WKU has taken nine of the last 10 meetings, including the previous two. However, Tech holds a 16-8 edge in Ruston, with the last win coming at home during 2020-21.
This is the longest-standing series among current C-USA mates and one of the more storied series in program history, dating back to the 1983-84 season. Tech and WKU were once conference mates in the Sun Belt from 1991-2001, where the two teams faced off 29 times, including eight conference tournament title games, with tech winning five of eight meetings.
LA Tech’s longest streak is 11 wins from 1997-2002, while WKU enjoyed ten straight over ten years from 2011-2021.
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Bulldogs at WKU
Louisiana Tech makes its last road trip of the regular season this week, starting with tonight’s contest at WKU. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. CT from E.A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green.
The contest can be heard on 107.5 FM and via the LA Tech Athletics app and seen on CBS Sports Network.
LA Tech (13-14, 6-10) could not overcome an 18-point halftime deficit, falling 74-67 to Charlotte this past Saturday in Ruston. It was the fourth straight loss by the Bulldogs, something that previously had happened just once in the last decade. The 49ers ended up shooting 62.2 percent from the field, the highest shooting percentage allowed by LA Tech this season.
LA Tech has been in close game after close game. In fact, 18 of their 27 games this season have been decided by 10 points or less (the most since the 2011-12 season). Unfortunately, the Bulldogs are a combined 6-12 in those games.
WKU (14-13, 6-10) and Louisiana Tech are tied for eighth in the conference standings with a 6-10 league mark. The Hilltoppers had won three straight, but suffered both losses on the road this past week to Charlotte (68-64) and Rice (83-77). Nine of WKU’s 10 conference losses have been by single digits.
The Hilltoppers defense is centered on the tallest player in Division I basketball Jamarion Sharp who leads the country in total blocks (112) and blocks per game (4.31). His rim protection is also a reason why WKU ranks third in the nation in field goal percentage defense at 41.4 percent.
LA Tech leads the all-time series over WKU, 21-20. Thanks to a five-game winning streak by the Bulldogs, they now lead the series for the first time since 1994.
In the first meeting this season, LA Tech overcame a 12-point deficit in the second half and then outscored WKU, 11-0, in overtime to take an 85-74 victory in Ruston. It was the first time in recorded history that the Bulldogs shutout an opponent for an entire overtime. It was the fifth OT ever played between LA Tech and WKU in the series history.
The Bulldogs and Hilltoppers have grown accustomed to playing in close games. The last seven contests between the two have been decided by seven points or less or overtime.
