Courtesy of LA Tech Athletic Communications
Bulldogs 92, UT-Arlington 77
Daniel Batcho scored a career-high 28 points while Amaree Abram poured in 23 as Louisiana Tech downed UT Arlington, 92-77, on Saturday night inside College Park Center.
Batcho was unstoppable in the first half, scoring 20 of his points. Meanwhile, the second half belonged to Abram who tallied 20 of his points. Dishing out the rock to both was Sean Newman Jr. who had a career-high 11 assists on zero turnovers, plus 10 points for a double-double.
“I was proud of how our guys fought,” said head coach Talvin Hester. “You can’t get ready for a road game until you have actually feel it for the first two or three minutes. UT Arlington came out very intense. We had to match their intensity. We talk about attitude and effort. I felt like our attitude was right but our effort was not quite where it needed to be. We got that together, we were a pretty good basketball team tonight.”
Crashing the glass was William Jeffress who had a double-double with 10 points and a career-high 12 boards. And locking things down on defense was Kaden Cooper who had a career-high five steals.
With all these individual performances by LA Tech (2-0), it was UTA (1-1) that came out with a lot of intensity, burying a pair of threes to take an early 6-point lead.
The Bulldogs started to settle in though, going punch for punch with the Mavericks. After eight ties and seven lead changes, LA Tech held a slim 26-25 lead with 9:36 to play in the first half.
That was when they started to pull away, and it was the Newman Jr.-Batcho connection that started it. The duo connected on three straight buckets and then the ‘Dogs went on a 11-2 run, capped off by Abram’s first basket (three-pointer) to head into halftime with a 51-37 advantage.
Abram carried that offensive mojo over, making seven of his eight field goal attempts in the second stanza including a driving layup to give the road team a 68-45 lead with 14:17 to play. The Port Arthur, Texas native refused to let the Mavericks back into the game, scoring 13 of LA Tech’s last 17 points.
“I think we got one under our belt against LSUA,” said Hester. “We had to get a game, really feel it with fans in the stands. This was a step up in a major way. Coach KT Turner does an amazing job. UTA plays so hard. I hope that we can start setting the tempo in some of these games. We did not defend like we really wanted to defend, but we played a good basketball team. We can grow there.”
The Bulldogs shot 50.8 percent from the field (31-61) and 40.0 percent from downtown (10-25). They also knocked down 20 of their 26 free throw attempts.
UTA managed to shoot 41.8 percent from the field, led by Jaden Wells who had a team-high 17 points.
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Lady Techsters 71, UT Arlington 60
RUSTON — Four Lady Techsters scored double figures as Louisiana Tech outscored UT Arlington by 14 in the second half to pull away in a 71-60 win Sunday night in the Thomas Assembly Center.
Freshmen Jordan Marshall and Isla Airey combined for 36 points and 21 rebounds to lead the way. Marshall nearly had a double-double with a game-high 22 points with nine rebounds. Airey did record one with 14 and 12. Robyn Lee (18) and Jianna Morris (11) were the other Lady Techsters in double figures.
Louisiana Tech (3-0) started by missing their first five shots but only fell behind 6-2 in the first three minutes. After a Paris Bradly layup, the Techsters fell into a rhythm and connected on their next three to grab the lead. Tech would push the run to 14-0 over the next five and a half minutes. Four turnovers on consecutive trips would aid UT Arlington (1-2) in cutting the lead down to 16-12 at the end of the first.
The lead would stay around four for the first half of the second before a Mavericks three started a 16-5 run to give them their second lead of the game. Airey would take over the last minute of the half to pull Tech back to within three with a buzzer-beater.
“Proud of this group’s toughness tonight,” Lady Techster head coach Brooke Stoehr said. “We challenged them at halftime to give more defensively, and I thought they responded well. Our defensive stops led to some transition offense and allowed us to answer each of their runs. That can be hard for a young team to handle in the course of a game. We got big minutes off the bench and had solid production when we needed it down the stretch. We rebounded, and that gave us a chance to stretch it on them in that 3rd quarter.
“We have to value the ball and eliminate some of the turnovers, but this group is continuing to fight through mistakes and responding to those moments of adversity. We beat a quality team tonight that has a solid group of experienced players. Shereka does a great job with them, and they’re well-coached. Tonight was a quality win for this young group.”
Marshall and Lee came out of halftime and took over the offense for the Lady Techsters. Lee started the scoring with back-to-back layups to pull within one.
After UTA scored on their next possession, Marshall continued to put on a performance. The Arkansas native got the ball at the high post, drove to her left, and laid it in to start a seven-point run. The final points of the run would be another magnificent play by the freshman, in which she got the UTA defender off her feet and dropped in a floater from just outside the paint. She would end the quarter with a pull-up just inside the 3-point line off the Lee assists just as time expired.
Lee would finish with nine points, while Marshall had six of the Techster’s 18 points in the third quarter. The defense held UTA to 10 as Tech had a 50-45 lead going into the final stanza.
Only up three with six minutes remaining, Lee hit a three that would help Tech extend their lead to 11 and force the Mavericks to use a timeout. UTA could only get as close as seven for the rest of the game.
Tech finished shooting 44.6 percent from the field and hit 19 free throws. UT Arlington shot 36.2 percent for the game and was 1-17 from long range. Koi Love led the way with 14 points and nine rebounds.RUSTON — Four Lady Techsters scored double figures as Louisiana Tech outscored UT Arlington by 14 in the second half to pull away in a 71-60 win Sunday night in the Thomas Assembly Center.
Freshmen Jordan Marshall and Isla Airey combined for 36 points and 21 rebounds to lead the way. Marshall nearly had a double-double with a game-high 22 points with nine rebounds. Airey did record one with 14 and 12. Robyn Lee (18) and Jianna Morris (11) were the other Lady Techsters in double figures.
Louisiana Tech (3-0) started by missing their first five shots but only fell behind 6-2 in the first three minutes. After a Paris Bradly layup, the Techsters fell into a rhythm and connected on their next three to grab the lead. Tech would push the run to 14-0 over the next five and a half minutes. Four turnovers on consecutive trips would aid UT Arlington (1-2) in cutting the lead down to 16-12 at the end of the first.
The lead would stay around four for the first half of the second before a Mavericks three started a 16-5 run to give them their second lead of the game. Airey would take over the last minute of the half to pull Tech back to within three with a buzzer-beater.
Marshall and Lee came out of halftime and took over the offense for the Lady Techsters. Lee started the scoring with back-to-back layups to pull within one.
After UTA scored on their next possession, Marshall continued to put on a performance. The Arkansas native got the ball at the high post, drove to her left, and laid it in to start a seven-point run. The final points of the run would be another magnificent play by the freshman, in which she got the UTA defender off her feet and dropped in a floater from just outside the paint. She would end the quarter with a pull-up just inside the 3-point line off the Lee assists just as time expired.
Lee would finish with nine points, while Marshall had six of the Techster’s 18 points in the third quarter. The defense held UTA to 10 as Tech had a 50-45 lead going into the final stanza.
Only up three with six minutes remaining, Lee hit a three that would help Tech extend their lead to 11 and force the Mavericks to use a timeout. UTA could only get as close as seven for the rest of the game.
Tech finished shooting 44.6 percent from the field and hit 19 free throws.
UT Arlington shot 36.2 percent for the game and was 1-17 from long range. Koi Love led the way with 14 points and nine rebounds.
