[ WAHINE BASKETBALL ]
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Louisiana Tech guard Tasha Crain, left, and Rice guard Latrice Elder fight for the ball
LaTech continues
reign atop WAC
FRESNO, Calif. >> The words became repetitive, not unlike those on the Western Athletic Conference women's basketball trophy.
"Basket by Erica Smith-Taylor," the Save Mart Center public-address announcer intoned once. Then again. And again.
All-Tournament team
Jillian Robbins, Tulsa; Lauren Neaves, Rice; Trina Frierson, Louisiana Tech; Erica Smith-Taylor, Louisiana Tech; Amisha Carter, Louisiana Tech.MVP--Amisha Carter, Louisiana Tech.
By the time he called her name a fifth time, Louisiana Tech's Smith-Taylor had turned a tightly contested WAC championship game into a blowout.
Smith-Taylor scored all of Louisiana Tech's points in a 12-1 second-half run that propelled the seventh-ranked Lady Techsters to a 76-52 win over Rice and their third straight WAC title in the women's final of the McCaffrey WAC tournament yesterday.
"The bigger the game, the bigger she plays. She's a tough kid," Louisiana Tech coach Kurt Budke said of Smith-Taylor. "That goes for the rest of the starters. They enjoy fighting and we knew this was going to be a fight."
Smith-Taylor hit seven of eight shots in the second half en route to a 22-point performance against the Owls. Amisha Carter, the tournament's Most Valuable Player, tallied 22 points and 16 rebounds.
Both players also had six steals each for LaTech, which had 21 steals as a team.
"I tried my best to not let them catch it easy," Smith-Taylor said. "I just got up and pressured the (passing) lane."
Louisiana Tech (27-2) also dominated the boards, outrebounding Rice 52-33.
"I thought the key to the game was who got the most rebounds," said Carter, the WAC Player of the Year. "At the end of the game I knew I could help out and get the rebounds."
Anne Peck led Rice (21-9) with 10 points, while freshman Lauren Neaves had eight points and a career-high six blocked shots.
But the Owls, the only WAC team to beat LaTech this season, were hampered by 29 turnovers.
"We didn't have anybody step up," Rice coach Cristy McKinney said. "Today we all just struggled."
Louisiana Tech led 29-25 in the opening moments of the second half before Smith-Taylor caught fire. She started the run with a short jumper and turned a steal into a layup. Her 3-pointer to end the run gave the Techsters a 41-26 lead and Rice never threatened again.
The 24-point margin was actually Louisiana Tech's smallest of the tournament. The Lady Techsters have won 26 consecutive conference tournament games, dating back to their days in the Sun Belt Conference.
