Amand, Roberson lead LA Tech to win over Loyola

RUSTON, La. – Anna Larr Roberson and MeMe Amand were too much for Loyola-New Orleans to handle down low as the inside duo for Louisiana Tech led the Lady Techsters to a 71-52 win over the Wolf Pack Tuesday night at the Thomas Assembly Center.

Roberson recorded her second collegiate double double with 14 points and 12 rebounds and Amand added career highs with 14 points and eight boards as the Lady Techsters built a 29-point second quarter lead and coasted to the victory.

“I thought we played much smarter as a group tonight,” said Tech head coach Brooke Stoehr. “We did a much better job of sharing the basketball. Loyola was trying to slow down the game with their zone defense. We saw very few possessions against man tonight.

“It was a good follow up for us. We didn’t handle the zone against Ole Miss very well so this was a great second test for us. We’ve been talking about playing a smarter brand of basketball, and I thought we did for the most part tonight. We still had too many turnovers but we did a lot of good things.”

While Roberson and Amand were controlling the pain, guards Amber Dixon and Amber Hawkison were providing production from the perimeter. Dixon scored 13 points, grabbed six rebounds and added four assists while Hawkison added 11 points and three assists for the Lady Techsters.

“I thought Dixon was really good tonight,” said Stoehr. “What people listening on the radio couldn’t see was her communication on the court on the defensive end. She really talked tonight. That was great to see.”

Tech (3-2) used a 16-0 run that started with Hawkison’s three-pointer at the end of the first quarter to push their 10-point lead out to 34-18 midway through the second half. Tech lead 40-11 with three minutes to play before half before taking a 44-20 lead into the locker room.

The third quarter was a struggle for both teams offensively. But Tech eventually pushed its lead out to as many as 30 at 65-35 with seven minutes to play before struggling to score down the stretch.

“We had some lulls in the second half,” said Stoehr. “I didn’t think we were quite as sharp or crisp. We did make a concerted effort to get the ball down low to Anna Larr and MeMe. They were able to finish for us and that is a good sign. We’ve seen MeMe do this all fall for us. We just need her to continue to do it for us when it counts.”

Kaila Anthony led Loyola with 12 points.

Tech shot 47 percent (28-60) from the field in the game, including making eight three-pointers, while holding Loyola to just 30 percent (16-53).

The Lady Techsters return to action Monday when they travel to face Little Rock at 6:30 p.m.