By Kevin Albarez, Louisiana Tech Associate Director Strategic Communications; featured photo by Landon Smith
RUSTON — Paris Bradley sidestepped a Liberty defender and went straight at one of the nation’s best-shot blockers to lay the ball off the glass with 2.7 seconds to life Louisiana Tech to a 67-66 win over the Lady Flames on Thursday night inside the Thomas Assembly Center.
Louisiana Tech (12-9, 5-5 CUSA) entered the fourth quarter down 10, but Bradley scored 13 of her game-high 19 points over the final six minutes to lift the Lady Techsters to the thrilling victory.
Tech started the fourth with a basket by Robyn Lee, a three-pointer by Jianna Morris, and a layup by Averi Aaron to cut the deficit to three just two minutes in. Liberty (15-6, 8-2) responded with two baskets of their own to push it back to seven. That is when Bradley took over for the Techsters.
After a pair of free throws by the freshman, Liberty hit a triple and looked like they would start to pull away. A turnover gave the Lady Flames possession, but Bradley would take it away and race down the court for a layup. Morris’s fourth triple of the game with 3:32 to go was the only points not scored by Bradley for the remainder of the game.
Bradley continued to attack the basket and gave the Lady Techsters their first lead since the first quarter at 62-61. Liberty would reclaim the lead after two free throws, but the four-time CUSA Freshman of the Week would hit three of her own to put Tech up two with 40 seconds left. Liberty hit a three six seconds later to set up the finish.
Louisiana Tech opened the game up 14-12 after one, but turnovers aided Liberty to take a seven-point lead into halftime.
The Lady Techsters missed just one shot over the final 10 minutes to shoot 61.9 percent for the game. Tech finished 50 percent from behind the arc and 66.7 percent from the charity stripe. Bradley added six rebounds and seven assists. Jianna Morris and Robyn Leeended in double figures with 16 and 14 points, respectively.
Liberty came into the game as the 16th-best three-point shooting team in the country but was held to 26.1 percent. The Lady Flames finished 42.9 percent from the field and 80 percent from the line. Asia Boone scored 14 points to lead the way. Emmy Stout finished with 11, and Bella Smuda had 10.
QUOTABLES
Head Coach Brooke Stoehr
“I’m incredibly proud of the toughness and grit this group showed tonight. Liberty is an experienced and talented team. They are so well coached and are a tough team to defend. The defensive effort in the 4th quarter was tremendous. We challenged them in the break between the 3rd and 4th quarter to get stops and take care of the ball. They dug in and got stops and scored to erase the deficit. Jianna set the tone for us with the job she did defensively on their point guard and being aggressive offensively. She played with a fire this group followed. Paris was so clutch down the stretch and made some huge plays for our team. Robyn was tough and gritty all night and competed like a 5th year senior. Our posts did a really nice job collectively and made solid adjustments on their ball screens. We had a really good focus about us this week in practice, and I’m so proud they were able to bounce back and find a way to protect home court tonight. We have to turn the page quickly and prepare for a physical FIU team on Saturday.”
NOTABLES
- Paris Bradley has scored double figures in 12 of the past 15 games, 18 or more in the past four games.
- Bradley extended her consecutive games with an assist to 21; it was the eighth time with 4 or more.
- Bradley led the Techsters in points for the eighth time (most on the team), rebounds for the third time, and assists for the 10th time (most on the team)
- The four 3-pointers by Jianna Morris tied a career-high.
- Isla Airey has a block in 18 of 21 games.
- The 61.9 percent shooting was the highest by LA Tech since shooting 63.8 percent against North Texas on January 11, 2023.
- The Lady Techsters improved to 8-1 when outscoring their opponent in the paint.
- Louisiana Tech outrebounded the opponent for the 14th time this season.
- Louisiana Tech improved to 1-3 all-time against Liberty.
UP NEXT
Louisiana Tech will return to the Thomas Assembly Center on Saturday when the Lady Techsters take on FIU at 3 p.m. CT on ESPN+.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
