Techsters to honor seniors against Rice
RUSTON – Louisiana Tech hosts Rice on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Thomas Assembly Center in a crucial Conference USA regular season contest. It will be Senior Day for three Lady Techsters as Kevione Moten, Rochelle Vasquez and Ashley Santos will be honored following the contest.
The Lady Techsters enter the final home game of the season tied for third place in the Conference USA standings, boasting a six-game winning streak – the longest by a Tech team since the 2010-11 season. With its win over North Texas Thursday night, Tech has assured itself of a winning season for the 40th time in the program’s 43-year history.
In recent weeks, Tech has won with rebounding and defense. In the last five games, the Lady Techsters have outrebounded their opponents by 75 boards or +15 rebounds a game. Tech has outrebounded each opponent by at least 13 boards in each of those five contests and ranks No. 2 in C-USA in rebounding margin.
Tech’s zone defense continues to succeed. The Lady Techsters held North Texas to a season-low 49 points in Thursday’s win as the Mean Green hit just 7-of-28 field goals in the second half. Tech ranks No. 1 in Conference USA in field goal percentage defense.
Rice enters Saturday’s game on the heels of a 79-60 loss at Southern Miss Thursday, snapping the Owls’ four-game winning streak. Three of Rice’s eight C-USA losses have come in overtime this season, including a 70-67 setback against Tech on Jan. 19 in Houston.
The Owls are also one of the top defensive teams in C-USA, ranking No. 1 in scoring defense (60.2 ppg) and No. 2 in field goal percentage defense. Rice is 8-6 on the road this year, including a 4-4 mark in league games with road wins at Charlotte, North Texas, UTSA and UTEP.
Tech leads the all-time series against Rice 12-8, including an 8-1 mark in Ruston.