Courtesy of LA Tech Athletic Communications
Tennis
After narrowly falling to host Tulsa 4-3 by dropping the doubles point, Louisiana Tech regrouped to defeat Southeast Missouri 5-2 on Sunday to close out the Hurricane Invite at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.
LA Tech (2-1) and Tulsa (2-0) split the six singles matches on Saturday, making the winner of Sunday doubles the victor. Both squads collected 6-1 wins, including Zoie Epps and Isabella Walker who teamed up to dominate 6-1 at the No. 1 spot.
After fending off a pair of match points on court two, the Bulldogs were unable to secure the win over the Golden Hurricane, falling 6-4.
The tough competition continued as the Bulldogs had to take on the defending Ohio Valley Conference regular season champions in SEMO (0-3). LA Tech was able to secure this doubles point as Alice Brook and Maria Tsironi were 6-1 victors at No. 2, followed by the clincher from No. 1 with Epps/Walker winning three straight games to prevail 7-5.
Epps quickly made it 2-0 as the junior improved to 3-0 at the event following a 6-2, 6-1 win over Sofia Zemtsova at the No. 1 position. Tsironi provided the third point for LA Tech with a 6-3, 6-2 win against Yontha Tadoum at No. 3.
After the Redhawks secured their first point on court two, Alice Brook claimed the clincher with a perfect 6-0, 6-0 victory versus Claudia Casas on court six. Walker made it an undefeated singles weekend just like her doubles partner, giving the Bulldogs an insurance point with a 6-4, 6-0 win against Mia Mayerova on court five.
“This was a great weekend of tennis for our team,” said head coach Amy Sargeant. “I was incredibly impressed with our mental toughness and physicality across the board. We did an excellent job adapting to our opponents and finding ways to win. We learned a lot about where we are right now, and even more about how we can continue to grow and improve moving forward. Proud of this group and excited for what is ahead.”
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Women’s Basketball
Louisiana Tech stay hot in conference, knocking off Western Kentucky 79-65, its fourth double-figure victory in a row.
“I was very proud of our effort and the way we shared the basketball today,” said head coach Brooke Stoehr. “They really attacked the zone well and found easy scoring opportunities. Our defensive focus and effort was solid in the first half and gave us some momentum and transition opportunities. We have to be better closing out that 4th quarter with a big lead.
“Our focus and intensity has to remain the same no matter the time, score or situation. We talked about finishing a tough 3 game week off the right way, and I’m very proud of how they did that today. We will continue to have a positive discontent and commit to getting better. Winning in league play is difficult, and we want to celebrate those without losing perspective on our continual improvement as a team.”
Western Kentucky struck first with a Salma Khedr layup almost two minutes into the quarter. Three lead changes would ensue until Alexia Weaver’s three point basket would send the Lady Techsters into the first media with a 7-5 lead, one that would never be surrendered.
A 7-0 run would force the Lady Toppers to use a timeout, helping WKU score the final four points of the quarter. The Lady Techsters took a 21-13 lead into the second quarter with six different scorers, led by Weaver with five. All eight baskets for LA Tech were assisted.
Paris Bradley started the scoring for Louisiana Tech with a corner triple, her first of the game. Weaver followed with deep shot of her own, extending the lead to 12. WKU would string together a 7-0 run to bring it within five halfway through the frame.
The Louisiana Tech offense would then rip off a 14-2 run to close the quarter, highlighted by a Jianna Morris four point play with under a minute to go. The Lady Techsters assisted 14 of their 15 made baskets in the first half en route to a 41-24 halftime lead.
The third quarter saw both teams trading baskets with Western Kentucky never pulling within 15 points of the Louisiana Tech lead. WKU strung together a 6-0 run halfway through the third, but LA Tech would answer with a 6-0 run of their own.
Six Lady Techsters dished an assist in the frame while seven scored a basket, led by Marshall’s six points. Both teams shot over 50.0 percent from the field with the Lady Techsters going 10-15, including 7 straight makes to end the quarter.
The Lady Toppers put together their best effort in the fourth quarter, scoring 22 of their 65 points in the frame. Louisiana Tech would go over five minutes without a basket, allowing WKU to put together an 11-0 run to close the gap to 12, but it was too little too late. Alexia Weaver would add a triple for good measure, her fourth of the game. A WKU free throw would mark the final point, handing the Lady Techsters a 79-65 victory.
Five Lady Techsters had double-figure scoring, led by Weaver’s 16. Kaleigh Thompson corralled a team high eight rebounds to go along with her 14 points, also dishing out five assists. Joy Madison-Key had seven assists, the game high and the fourth time a Lady Techster has had at least seven this season.
With the win, the Lady Techsters have started conference play at a 4-1 clip, the best start in Conference-USA in Louisiana Tech history.
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Men’s Basketball
Following a pair of double-digit comebacks, Louisiana Tech was on the verge of doing it again, but its comeback effort fell short in a 64-60 loss to Jacksonville State on Saturday afternoon inside Pete Mathews Coliseum.
Down 16 with five minutes to go, LA Tech (10-8, 3-4 CUSA) went on a 13-0 run to get to within one possession at 60-57. With 25 seconds to go, the Bulldogs were able to secure yet another defensive spot but could not secure the rebound.
As a result, they were forced to foul which led to two made free throws by Jax State (9-9, 4-3 CUSA). The ‘Dogs came down and got a three-pointer from Avery Thomas II to cut it two. Forced to foul again, the Gamecocks knocked down two more free throws to stop the Bulldogs attempt at a third straight comeback.
“This team has a lot of fight in them,” said head coach Talvin Hester. “Our defense is competing enough to give us chances, but we must find a way to make baskets. We cannot keep playing games shooting in the 30s, especially on the road. At some point, we are going to have to make jump shots.”
LA Tech dug itself another hole on the road as Jax State came out and buried its first five attempts, four of which came from downtown to quickly take a 14-4 lead.
The Bulldogs won the last five minutes of the first half as well, down 32-18 before closing the stanza on a 9-2 run that was sparked by a pair of jumpers from DJ Dudley.
Dudley connected on a made layup to cap an 8-2 run early in the second half, forcing a timeout by the Gamecocks while getting the deficit down to five at 40-35 with 14:33 to play.
In a game of runs, Jax State responded with a 15-2 run to build its largest lead of the contest at 55-37, something LA Tech could not ultimately overcome.
The Bulldogs were held to 39.3 percent shooting from the field (20-of-49) with only four made threes on 17 attempts. Three of those came from Dudley who finished with a game-high 25 points, one shy of tying his season high.
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Track and Field
The Louisiana Tech men’s and women’s track and field teams saw several outstanding performances throughout the course of the season-opening Arkansas Invitational.
Friday’s meet was highlighted by Sabastian Bradley-Reed setting the indoor men’s program record with a time of 33.35 in the 300, shattering his own previous record of 33.88 that was set at the beginning of the 2025 indoor season. It was his third top-three indoor finish in his Bulldog career and just the second time he has ran the event.
Kaitlyn Washington set the second program record of the day for the Bulldogs, finishing as the runner-up in the weight throw with a throw of 18.88 meters, breaking the previous indoor record of 18.51 meters that was set over 20 years ago in 2002 by Tawanna Williams.
Several other athletes made their marks at the Randal Tyson Track Center, some in their first competition with Louisiana Tech. Tennessee transfer Rickey Williams III finished fourth in the 400 with a time of 47.54, moving into fourth all-time in indoor program history.
Freshman John Brown saw a top-10 indoor performance in the 300 with a time of 35.16 after Abdulraof Oriade Rashid clocked 34.83, marking the fourth-fastest time by a Bulldog in the event.
Azayla Smith (600m – 1:40.12, fifth) and Praise Ofoku (300m – 39.63, fourth) moved into the all-time top five in their respective events as well. Jamara Patterson continues her dominance in the 400, clocking the eighth-fastest time at 53.96, just behind her personal best and seventh-fastest program time of 53.76.
Distance runner Dillon Sanchez became just one of four Bulldogs to ever record a sub-2:40 time in the indoor 1,000-meter run, posting a time of 2:37.53 for the fourth-fastest time by a Bulldog en route to a top-five finish on Friday.
The women’s 4×400-meter relay team closed out the day with the Bulldogs’ 10th top-10 all-time performance of the day. Osaretin Joy Usenbor, Jamara Patterson, Nia Wiley and Jenaia Williams finished fifth in the event with a time of 3:39.77, marking the 10th-fastest time in indoor LA Tech history.
The Bulldogs return to action in Baton Rouge on Friday, January 23 for the Bayou Bengal hosted by LSU.
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Bowling
The No. 5 Louisiana Tech bowling team went 2-1 in bracket play Sunday to finish fifth overall out of 36 teams at the Northeast Classic.
“This weekend was one of the larger tournaments in NCAA bowling, and it is an event we always enjoy attending,” said head coach Matt Nantais. “It gives us the opportunity to compete against East Coast teams that we do not normally see during the regular season. There is a lot of talent in that region, so it’s a great measuring stick to see how we stack up.”
The Bulldogs opened the day with a 4-2 loss to No. 4 Arkansas State before registering consecutive ranked wins over No. 7 Youngstown State (4-3) and No. 10 Maryville (4-3) to secure the fifth-place finish.
LA Tech went 11-2 on the weekend with five ranked wins. The Bulldogs averaged 200.2 pins per game, recording a total pinfall of 14,014.
Jenna Stretch was named to the All-Tournament Team after finishing sixth out of 229 competitors in Saturday’s traditional play. Stretch recorded a total pinfall of 1,113 across five games.
“Going 11-2 this weekend says a lot about this team,” said Nantais. “We continue to compete at a high level and do a good job of minimizing mistakes. Coming off a long break, there are definitely some things we need to clean up, but with two events back-to-back, time is limited.
“We will take advantage of the few days we have to prepare before heading to Prairie View, which will be one of the most challenging events of the year.”
