Fresno State Athletics
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Bulldogs Fall Short Against Louisiana Tech, 80-70
1/8/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 8, 2005
FRESNO, Calif.- Tasha Crain and Lakiste Barkus paced a guard-oriented Louisiana Tech scoring attack during an 80-70 victory over Fresno State on Saturday afternoon in front of 4,643 at the Save Mart Center.Crain scored a game-high 28 points while Barkus added 27 for the Lady Techsters (8-4, 2-0 WAC), which received all but 12 points from its arsenal of quick, heady guards.
Fresno State (10-3, 2-2 WAC) countered with an edge in the post, as Amy Parrish posted a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds despite battling flu-like symptoms. Chantella Perera also tallied 12 points, while Aritta Lane added 10 for the Bulldogs, who owned a 42-37 edge on the glass.
The score might have been closer if not for Fresno State's 16-27 mark from the free throw line and 4-17 clip from three-point territory.
However, it was the play of Crain and Barkus that ignited Louisiana Tech on Saturday. Fresno State held only two leads in the contest, the second of which put the `Dogs up 10-9 with 14:25 remaining in the first half. Even at the point, Crain had scored all nine of Louisiana Tech's points. A triple from Barkus put the Lady Techsters in front at 12-9 and the visitors from Ruston never trailed thereafter.
Two free throws from Jasmine Plummer at the 2:09 mark of the first half brought Fresno State to within 32-26, but Louisiana Tech closed out the period on an 11-4 surge to take a 43-30 halftime lead.
The story was the same in the second half, as Louisiana Tech stretched its lead to 57-36 during a 14-6 run that included one of three three-point plays from Crain and nine points from Barkus.
Louisiana Tech led by as many as 25 points following a jumper from Barkus, making it 68-43 with 9:51 remaining in the second half.
Fresno State outscored Louisiana Tech 27-12 for the remainder of the contest, getting significant contributions from its reserves. Toni Atherley was 7-9 from the free-throw line and scored a career-high nine points off the bench, while Paige Diggs added eight points.
Fresno State attempts to remain unbeaten on the road when it travels to Boise State (Thur., Jan. 13) and UTEP (Sat., Jan. 15) this weekend. The Bulldogs are 6-0 so far this year away from Fresno. Both of those games, in addition to the five remaining regular season games thereafter, can be heard live on ESPN Radio 1430 AM.
