United Athletic Conference

Boise State's Benita Buggs shot the game-winning shot against La. Tech

WAC Highlights

By a score of 62-59, the Boise State women's basketball team used an overall team effort and strong defense to become only the second team in the Western Athletic Conference to defeat Louisiana Tech since both schools have been members of the league (2001-02). The Broncos Saturday (Jan. 29) at 2 p.m. host SMU who defeated UTEP this evening 71-64 in El Paso.

With the score tied 59-59, junior guard Benita Buggs hit a three pointer with 1.2 second left in the game. Louisiana Tech called a time-out to set up one last play, but then couldn't get a good shot off with so little time left.

Boise State (7-10 overall, 2-6 WAC) was down by seven at the half, 23-30. Louisiana Tech (11-5 overall, 7-1 WAC) extended the lead to 12 (49-37) with 10:34 left to play in the second period. A three-pointer by Cassidy Blaine from a Jamie Hawkins assist led the Bronco run. Boise State closed to within one (57-56) on another Blaine three-pointer. Jamie Hawkins then grabbed a defensive rebound which led to a Buggs jumper which gave the Broncos a 58-57 advantage.

Another Louisiana Tech miss led to an Amanda Stewart rebound. She was fouled, made her first free throw, but missed her second.

Lousiana Tech's Lakiste Barkis hit a jump shot to tie the game up, 59-59. A Boise State turnover and a Lady Techster missed shot followed. Blaine grabbed the final rebound that set up Buggs' three point from just left of the key.

"This was all about our players tonight. They did it from start to finish." said Boise State coach Jen Warden, "All of our players, from Benita to Tasha to Cassidy to Jamie, found ways to make plays."

There was another upset in the WAC. Senior forward Lamisha Augustine scored a career high 26 points to lead the San Jose State women's basketball team to a 61-53 victory over Tulsa Thursday evening at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. With the win, the Spartans are now tied for second in the Western Athletic Conference standings with Tulsa, SMU and Rice at 5-3, and ended Tulsa's nine-game home winning streak.

Because of double and triple teams on Spartan forward Amber Jackson, the WAC's leading scorer, Augustine found herself open to score her 26 points. She was 13-of-29 from the field and recorded her second double-double of the season with 11 rebounds.

Tulsa forward Jillian Robbins, the WAC's third-leading scorer and leading rebounder, scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. However, the Golden Hurricane could only muster one other double-figure scorer as Megan Moody scored 10 points.

San Jose State led 31-30 at halftime, but TU scored the first seven points of the second half to take a 37-31 lead and extended the lead to 40-33 at 14:30 before SJSU started to make its comeback. Jessica Kellogg cut the lead to 41-39 with a steal and a layup and gave the Spartans the lead for good at 50-49 with a three-point field goal at 5:06. Jackson scored five of her nine points in the last five minutes of the game to help SJSU seal the win. Kellogg made two free throws to give San Jose State its biggest lead of the second half with the final score of 61-53.

Kellogg and Erica McGlaston each scored 10 points in the win for SJSU. Nica Gemo grabbed 13 rebounds to go with her three points, two assists, two blocked shots and two steals. Jackson finished the game with nine points and eight rebounds.

I absolutely love the way we are playing right now, said Richard. Ever since the SMU game, the team has responded well and is gelling at the right time for the second half of the WAC season.

San Jose State is now 12-6 overall and 5-3 in the WAC. The Spartans take a three-game winning streak to Rice Saturday evening in a battle for second place in the conference. The Lady Owls defeated Hawaii 70-68 Thursday evening.