Saturday, Feb. 16 WAC Women’s Recaps
Louisiana Tech 70
San Jose State 54
RUSTON - Louisiana Tech head coach Chris Long might petition the NCAA to just do away with the first half of basketball games and start after halftime.
For the second straight game, Tech (12-13, 6-6 WAC) shot dismally in the opening 20 minutes of play before catching fire coming out of the locker room this time pulling away for a 70-54 win over San Jose State Saturday night at the Thomas Assembly Center.
"It didn't come easy," said Tech head coach Chris Long. "I felt like in first half we got the basketball where we wanted it and that's inside, but they did a nice job of double teaming and we stood around too much. I felt like in second half we started mixing up what we were running and really executed much better. That was the difference in the game."
Tied 28-28 at the half after shooting only 28 percent (8-29) from the field in the first half, the Lady Techsters opened the second half by scoring 14 unanswered points to push the advantage to 42-28 at the 16:20 mark on a jumper by Nastassja Levingston.
Tech hit five of its first six field goals in the second half and appeared ready to put the game away.
However, San Jose State (2-22, 1-10 WAC) wouldn't give up as backup guard Emily Nichols hit three consecutive three-pointers in a 65 second span to pull the Spartans within 42-37.
"I thought we defended well at times, but we also lost their shooter too many times and gave up too many threes to her," Long said. "If you take away those - and you can't - I felt like we defended pretty well tonight."
Tech pushed its lead back out to double digits at 53-43 with 7:56 to play on a layup by Tarkeisha Wysinger before the Spartans made one list mini-run closing the gab to 53-47 on a layup by Brittany Powell at the 6:37 mark of the final half.
The Lady Techsters ended the game on a 17-7 run for the final margin of victory.
For the sixth time in 12 Western Athletic Conference games, senior forward Jo Sneed eclipsed the 20-point plateau, ending the night with 25 points and six rebounds despite being double teamed by the Spartans.
"Jo is a warrior for us," Long said. "She wants the basketball and she is delivering every night."
Wysinger added 14 points for Tech which shot 42 percent for the game, including 61 percent (14-23) in the second half.
Nichols led San Jose State with 15 points - all coming on three-pointers - while Powell added 12 points.
Tech has 12 days off before facing Utah State at home on Feb. 28.
Nevada 68
Idaho 48
RENO, Nev. ? Dellena Criner and Cherlanda Franklin each scored 15 points for Nevada as the University of Nevada women’s basketball team beat Idaho 68-48 Saturday night. Sabrina Keys (11 points) and Mikail Price (10 points) also scored in double figures for the Pack.
With the win, Nevada improved to 18-7 overall and 9-3 in the WAC. With four regular season games remaining, Nevada is now two wins away from the first 20-win season in program history and is one win away from tying the program record for wins in a season (19). Nevada’s win over Idaho Saturday night gave Nevada its most overall wins under fifth-year head coach Kim Gervasoni (18).
Nevada opened the game on a 16-2 run on a Price three pointer with 10:42 remaining in the half. Idaho did not record its first field goal of the game until Yinka Olorunnife scored on a jumper with 9:50 left in the half.
Nevada led by as many as 16 on two occasions in the first half. Idaho pulled to within eight at halftime, 25-17. The 17 points Nevada allowed in the first half ties the Pack’s season low. Nevada also allowed 17 first-half points against Santa Clara and San Francisco earlier this season.
Nevada opened the second half on a 6-0 run to take a 31-17 lead with 18:30 remaining in the game. Idaho pulled to within six, 31-25, with 16:38 remaining before Nevada extended its lead to 14 points, 44-30, on Keys’ jumper with 12:09 left in the game.
The Pack extended its lead to 18 points on a pair free throws by Bre'Anna Henry and Nevada took its largest lead of the game, 20 points, with 39 seconds remaining on a layup by Jessica Cox.
“Coming off a loss we wanted this game so bad,” Gervasoni said. “Our defense was amazing, holding Idaho to 17 first-half points. I challenged our posts in this game and I thought they stepped up to the challenge.”
Brandi Fitzgerald and Franklin each pulled down a team-high five rebounds for Nevada. The Pack recorded 19 steals in the game and scored 34 points off turnovers.
Nevada will travel to Logan, Utah to face Utah State on Thursday at 7 p.m. MT.