Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
<li> Louisiana Tech
Bulldogs Suffer Hard-Fought 86-76 Defeat At Louisiana Tech
2/3/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 3, 2005
RUSTON, La.- Trailing by seven at halftime, Louisiana Tech used a strong second-half surge to rally past Fresno State 86-76 on Thursday night in front of 3,183 at the Thomas Assembly Center.Fresno State (12-7, 4-6 WAC) received tremendous efforts from Aritta Lane and Amy Parrish, as both players teamed up to dominate Louisiana Tech (13-5, 9-1 WAC) under the boards. However, Louisiana Tech's guard tandem of Tasha Crain and Lakiste Barkus was equally impressive and led a 56-39 Lady Techster surge over the final 20 minutes.
Lane scored a career-high 31 points on 12-24 shooting, becoming the first Fresno State player to reach the 30-point plateau since Lindsay Logan poured in 30 against Baylor in a WNIT quarterfinal loss two years ago. Parrish was productive as well, adding 22 points and matching a career-high with 13 boards. Jasmine Plummer added nine points.
Louisiana Tech was led by Crain's 25 points (11-13 from the free throw line) and nine assists, while Barkus tallied 20 and knocked down three triples in the second half that allowed the Lady Techsters to pull away.
Fresno State, which entered the game 0-9 all-time against Louisiana Tech, immediately quieted the home crowd from the start and shut down the Lady Techster offense with a stifling zone defense. Trailing 5-4, the Bulldogs regained the edge on a jumper from Lane and led for the rest of the first half.
A jumper from Parrish at the 10:22 mark put Fresno State up 22-13, the Bulldog's largest lead of the contest. Fresno State would go on to take a 35-30 advantage into the lockerroom, helped greatly by 50-percent shooting and 14 points from Lane.
Louisiana Tech used an 11-4 spurt to begin the second half and retook the lead at 41-39 following a 15-footer from Crain. Five lead changes later, Fresno State found itself back up 47-46 on the heels of a short jumper from Lane.
A three-pointer from Shan Moore gave Louisiana Tech a 52-49 edge with 12:36 remaining and the Lady Techsters would never trail thereafter. Two free throws from Crain with just under four minutes left made it 76-64- Louisiana Tech's biggest lead of the game.
The `Dogs cut it to seven points in the final three minutes on two different occasions, but the Lady Techsters held on for the victory.
Fresno State completes its road trip on Saturday, Feb.5, with a game at SMU. Tip-off is scheduled for noon PST.
