Anthony scores 30 in Techsters win at UTEP

EL PASO, Texas – Despite missing most of the second quarter due to foul trouble, Kierra Anthony scored 30 points and led Louisiana Tech to a 74-64 win over UTEP Thursday night at the Don Haskins Center before 410 fans.

Tech (14-11, 6-6 C-USA) won its fourth straight game, this one coming against an undermanned UTEP team that dressed only seven players.

At times it wasn’t pretty – Tech was outrebounded by 12 – but at the end of the night the Lady Techsters found a way to win on the road and even up their league record.

“That’s what I told them in the locker room after the game,” said Tech head coach Brooke Stoehr. “There are a million things I could pick apart about us defensively, but this is a tough place to play and they do things that give us problems. They are a difficult match-up for us.”

Both teams came out of the locker room clicking on all offensive cylinders. UTEP (6-19, 3-9) shot 69 percent (9-13) from the field in the opening quarter while Tech hit 57 percent (8-14), including 5-of-7 from the three-point line.

The Miners built an early 11-6 lead before Tech cut it to 23-22 at the end of the first period. The second quarter was better for both teams defensively, something the Lady Techsters needed with the league’s top scorer saddled on the bench with two fouls.

“Daria McCutcheon came off the bench and gave us great minutes on the defensive end of the floor,” said Stoehr. “She played a lot in the first half and gave us some quality minutes in the zone. She really talked and competed and we needed that from her tonight.

“I thought the second quarter we defended much better; they only made four field goals. The third quarter we only gave up 14 points. Aside from the first quarter defensively, I thought we were much better defensively. We knew the pace and the tempo would be a little different than what we have been used to because of their numbers and how they want to play.”

Anthony, who registered her seventh 30-plus point game of the year, scored 14 points in the first 12 minutes of the game before being whistled for her second foul. Tech led 30-23 when Anthony and Dixon went to the bench in foul trouble the remainder of the opening half.

Tech was still able to possess a 37-35 lead at intermission. The third quarter was all Tech. With Anthony and Dixon back on the floor, the Lady Techsters pushed its lead out to 56-43 with 3;12 to play on a Bre Harris jumper. Dixon recorded three of her game-high six assists in the quarter for Tech as the Techsters led 58-49 at the end of three.

Any chance of a fourth quarter rally by UTEP was doused by Anthony. The New Iberia, La., native scored 14 of Tech’s 16 points over the final 10 minutes as she connected on 4-of-7 field goals and 6-of-6 free throws.

Junior Grayson Bright had another solid night for Tech, scoring 14 points, grabbing a team-high seven rebounds, and recording two steals and two blocks in 35 minutes. Harris and Raizel Guinto both chipped in with 10 points each.

For the game, Tech shot 48 percent (26-54) from the field, but was outrebounded 37-25.

“My biggest disappointment is the rebounding,” said Stoehr. “I just thought we got dominated on the boards. We just didn’t find bodies. We didn’t put bodies on them. We just didn’t do a very good job of that. But we turned them over and we were able to get some key stops at critical times. And I thought we attacked offensively.”

Tech forced 21 turnovers by the Miners while only committing 10 in the game.

Katarina Zuc led UTEP with 19 points.

Tech returns to action Saturday at 2 p.m. when it faces UTSA at the Convocation Center.