Bates buzzer-beater lifts Lady Techsters to 60-57 win over Boise State

BOULDER, Colo. – Salma Bates’ drained a three-pointer as time expired to give Louisiana Tech a 60-57 win over Boise State Friday afternoon inside the CU Events Center in the Rocky Mountain Hoops Classic.

The Lady Techsters improve to 4-1 on the season, while Boise State falls to 1-3 overall.

With the Lady Techsters trailing 57-53 with 30-seconds remining, a 7-0 run highlighted by a miraculous three-pointer from Bates as time expired gave Tech the win.

Junior Keiunna Walker knocked down a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to 57-55, before freshman Amaya Brannon powered through contact to even the score at 57-57. Tech got a big rebound on the defensive side of the floor and called a timeout to advance the ball with 1.2 second remaining. Out of the timeout, Salma Bates launched a three from just in-front of the bench and sank it as the buzzard sounded.

Sophomore Anna Larr Roberson scored six consecutive points to give Tech an 14-7 lead midway through the opening frame. Boise State answered with a 7-3 run to cut the Lady Techsters advantage down to 17-14 at the end of the first quarter.

After the Broncos cut it to one at 17-16, LA Tech extended its lead out to 24-16 with a pair of jumpers by Roberson and a three from Brannon with 7:24 remaining in the half. Boise State clawed their way back to even thins up at 28-28 with 57 seconds left, but a driving layup and-one by Walker gave Tech a 31-28 lead at the break.

The Lady Techsters struggled to score in the third as Tech shot just 4-of-18 (22.2 %) from the field. With Tech leading 36-32 with 6:07 left in the period, Boise State sparked an 8-0 run to take a 40-36 lead and a 44-40 lead into the final frame.

A slow opening frame saw the Lady Techsters stretch the scoreboard on back-to-back three’s by sophomore Salma Bates. Bates’ threes ignited an 8-2 run, giving the Lady Techsters a 19-12 lead at the end of the first period.

NOTABLES
• LA Tech improves to 17-7 all-time against Boise State. The Lady Techsters are also a perfect 5-0 against the Broncos at neutral sites.
• Tech also improves to 82-26 all-time against teams from the Mountain West Conference.
• Bates’ three as time expired was the first buzzard-beater for Tech since Whitney Frazier hit a three-pointer to lift Lech to a 64-62 win over Idaho on Feb. 16, 2013.
• Anna Larr Roberson collected her eighth career double-double scoring a game-high 17 points and grabbing a game-high 13 rebounds.
• Keiunna Walker scored 14 points, her sixth straight game in double-figures and her 46th career game in double figures.
• Salma Bates tied her season-high with six assists while adding 11 points
• Roberson tied her career-high with four blocks against the Broncos today.
• Amaya Brannon collected a season-high nine rebounds, while contributing eight points on offense.

QUOTABLES
Head Coach Brooke Stoehr
” I was proud of the resilience the group showed down the stretch. We didn’t have our best game today, but they found a way to execute down the stretch in a late game situation. They took away our first option from the sideline play but the in-bounder is always an option when they double or help off. Lotte made a heads up play by seeing that and getting the ball right back to Salma. It looked great when it left her hands. Salma is just calm and steady. I’m just really happy for this group to experience a moment like that in front of their families. It was special moment for them! Anna Larr was really big for us inside today. She battled and got some really big rebounds. I thought she kept us in it offensively in the first half and gave us some momentum. We needed every one of them today. We’re going to need to be much better defensively tomorrow against Colorado. It’ll be a tough test for us and give us an opportunity to go compete against an experienced team on the road. It is a quick turnaround, and we need to be able to turn the page quickly. This will give us an opportunity to prepare for the postseason where we’ll need to play on consecutive days.”

UP NEXT
The Lady Techsters will return to the court tomorrow when the matchup with the Buffalo’s pf Colorado inside the CU Events Center in Boulder, Colo. at 2 p.m. CT.

SOCIAL MEDIA
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