Courtesy of LA Tech Sports Communications
RUSTON — Louisiana Tech started slow but used a 17-0 run to pull away from Alcorn State midway through the second quarter to come away with a 79-45 win on Saturday afternoon in the Thomas Assembly Center.
Jordan Marshall finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds for her third double-double to lead five Lady Techsters (5-3) in double figures. Robyn Lee added 13 and seven with five assists, while Jianna Morris had 13 points. Paris Bradley had her second straight double-figure game with 11, adding five boards, five assists, and two blocks. Averi Aaron finished with 10 points and five rebounds in her home debut.
“We had a solid effort from our group today and saw some good progress and carry over from some areas we’ve been working on in practice,” Lady Techster head coach Brooke Stoehr said. “The leadership of Robyn this week in practice was tremendous. She really set the tone with her voice and effort. We got stops that led to transition and were able to get some good looks with our ball movement. When we get to correct spots, move the ball and make the easy pass offense becomes much more easy for us. Jianna and Paris pushed the ball up the floor quickly and set the tone for us with their tempo. We got solid production on the boards and in the paint and knocked down our free throws. I am proud of our group’s effort today and seeing them take another step forward.”
Alcorn (2-7) took the lead on the game’s first possession. LA Tech turned it over on their first three possessions but held the Lady Braves scoreless for the next three minutes. Tech finally got on the board with a layup by Bradley at the eight-minute mark.
Autumn Smith stole the ball and gave it to Morris on the fastbreak to give the Lady Techsters the lead. From there, the teams would trade buckets before the teams would combine to miss the next eight shots.
Alcorn would cut it down to one with 2:24 to play in the first before a pair of Isla Airey free throws and a Lee layup gave LA Tech a 15-10 lead.
Louisiana Tech extended their run to 17-0 through the first five minutes of the second stanza. Aaron contributed five points, including her first 3-pointer during that stretch. A Marshall steal led to a fastbreak for Lee to force Alcorn to use a timeout and cap off the run.
The Lady Braves would hit three 3’s to end the half on a 13-5 spurt to cut it to 33-23 at the break.
Tech would get a 10-0 run towards the end of the third to extend the lead to 21 after three. They would push it to 28 over the middle portion of the fourth with a 16-2 run before finishing with a 9-0 run to end the game.
Louisiana Tech shot 23-56 from the field for 41 percent, including 7-18 from deep and 26-32 from the charity stripe.
Alcorn finished 19-65 for 29 percent and just 4-18 from long range. The Lady Braves came into the game averaging 20 free throw attempts per game but were held to just nine and only converted three. Maya Claytor and Sharmayne Finley each had nine points to lead Alcorn. Destiny Brown added eight points, eight rebounds, and five blocks.
