By Kevin Albarez, Louisiana Tech Associate Director Strategic Communications
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Louisiana Tech pushed Middle Tennessee to the limits before falling, 62-56, Friday night inside VBC Propst Arena.
The fourth-seeded Lady Techsters (14-19, 7-9) started the game strong and jumped to an 11-5 lead at the first media timeout. The top-seeded Lady Raiders (28-4, 16-0) battled back with a 12-2 run to take the lead, but Anna Larr Roberson knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key as time expired to end the first quarter tied at 17 apiece.
The teams traded baskets for the majority of the second, and Tech held a 31-30 lead heading into the locker room.
LA Tech extended the lead to six after a triple by Silvia Nativi, but MTSU used a 9-0 run to regain it. The two teams traded six-point runs, and Middle Tennessee held a 45-42 lead heading into the final stanza.
The Lady Raiders pushed the run to 12 with the first six points of the final quarter to take a nine-point lead with eight minutes to go. The Lady Techsters closed the gap to four on multiple occasions but couldn’t overcome the deficit the rest of the way.
Tech finished the game 35 percent (20-57) from the field, 37 percent (7-19) from deep and 90 percent (9-10) from the line. Middle shot 38 percent (20-52) overall, 26 percent (5-19) from long range, and 89 percent (17-19) from the charity stripe.
Jianna Morris led the Techsters with 14 points and five rebounds. Roberson finished with 13 points, while Nativi had 10 boards and seven assists.
Middle Tennessee finished with three players in double figures, led by Savannah Wheeler with 22 points. Anastasiia Boldyreva had a double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds.
NOTABLES
- Louisiana Tech dropped to 7-13 all-time against Middle Tennessee.
- The Lady Techsters dropped to 3-3 all-time as a No. 4 seed and 22-6 in semifinal games.
- The Lady Techsters finished with a program record 199 3-pointers on the season.
- Roberson moved into 17th on the Lady Techsters’ all-time scoring list with 1,646 points, passing Kay Ford. She also finished her career with an 80.6 percent clip from the free-throw line for third in program history.
- Salma Bates finished with 60 3-pointers on the season to finish seventh in program history for a single season.
- Morris played 1,053 minutes on the season, the second most by a freshman in program history only behind Whitney Jones with 1,110 during the 2008-09 season.
- Nativi had her 10th game with 5+ assists and sixth with seven or more.
- Morris now has 218 points and 102 rebounds in her freshman campaign