Lane's 31 not enough to lift Bulldogs past La. Tech

Staff Reports
The Collegian

Too bad the Fresno State women’s basketball team’s most passionate game of the season had to come against the best team in the Western Athletic Conference, because the passion wasn’t quite enough.

The Bulldogs rode Aritta Lane’s career-high 31 points and played with an intensity that had been missing all season but still lost 86-76 to Louisiana Tech on Thursday.

The Lady Techsters used a second-half flurry to post their ninth WAC win and re-establish their dominance of the conference.

A week after losing to next-to-last-place Boise State, Louisiana Tech outscored Fresno State 56-39 in the second half of Thursday’s game.

Lane’s 31-point game marked the first time a Fresno State player had scored 30 points since Lindsay Logan put up 30 in the quarterfinals of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament quarterfinal loss to Baylor in 2003.

The Bulldogs looked to be in total control in the first half. Fresno State used a stifling zone defense to frustrate the Lady Techsters.

The Bulldogs shot 50 percent in the first half and held the Lady Techsters to 37 percent as Fresno State built a first half lead as big as 11 points. Fresno State took a 37-30 lead into halftime.

But Louisiana Tech, which has shot 10 percent better in the second half than in the first this season, shot 58 percent in the second half, compared to 40 percent for Fresno State.

The Lady Techsters came out of halftime and went on an 11-2 run to take the lead for the first time since they led 5-4 early in the game.

In addition to Lane’s 31 points, junior forward Amy Parrish pitched in with 22 points and 13 rebounds.

But while Fresno State’s scoring punch came from the inside, Louisiana Tech’s guards took control of the Lady Techsters’ scoring.

Tasha Crain led Louisiana Tech with 25 points, and Lakiste Barkus had 20, including 10 straight points in the second half to put the game out of the Bulldogs’ reach. Crain, Barkus and Shan Moore, who finished with 14 points, combined to score 44 of the Techsters’ 56 second-half points.

“I thought they kicked our tail in the paint. It was too easy for them to score in there,” Louisiana Tech coach Kurt Budke said in a post-game news release. “I told all my post players they better call every guard on this team and thank them tonight because they saved our tail tonight.”