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Winning streak ends, La Tech beats BSU Women 79-63
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It was the Shan Moore show Saturday night when the Boise State women’s basketball team lost its first Western Athletic Conference game of the season. The loss came at home against perennial power Louisiana Tech. It was a competitive game for most of 30 minutes until Moore and La Tech began to run away to an impressive 16-point win.
“She played really good tonight and we couldn’t find an answer for her,” BSU guard Tasha Harris said about Moore.
“[She] just had an amazing game,” BSU Head Coach Gordy Presnell added. “They’d run pick-and-roll for her and she’d just go into the key and rise up and knock it down.”
Backed by the largest home crowd of the season (4,518), Boise State got out to a hot start, jumping out to an early 9-1 lead. The crowd was the largest recorded home attendance for a BSU women’s basketball game in 13 years.
“It was great,” Harris said. “The fans were just amazing. We were so happy to have them come out and support us.”
La Tech responded to the fast BSU start and cut the lead to six with just over 15 minutes to go in the first half.
It was Jessica Thompson doing the honors for BSU early in the first half. Thompson poured in nine of Boise State ’s first 22 points, but Boise State was unable to pull away from the Lady Techsters. Every time the Broncos got some momentum going Louisiana Tech snuck its way back into contention. To go along with Shan Moore’s 14 points in the first half, La Tech’s Ty Moore added nine of her own. The Moore ’s combined had 18 of La Tech’s first 21 points and kept La Tech in the game throughout the first half.
Louisiana Tech took its first lead of the game early in the second half on a pair of free-throws by Amber Metoyer.
Following the Metoyer free-throws there was a considerable shift in momentum. Boise State would be unable to buy a bucket offensively for what seemed like the remainder of the game. BSU gave up the lead for the last time with just under 12 minutes to go and watched La Tech run away to the finish.
“We couldn’t make lay-ups, we couldn’t make jumpers, we couldn’t make threes, we just couldn’t make anything,” BSU center Michelle Hessing said about the Broncos second half struggles.
BSU shot 15-of-29 from the floor in the first half but just 7-of-35 in the second half. That 20 percent second half shooting percentage is what ultimately sealed the deal for La Tech.
“We did a really good job of going inside-outside, we mixed it up,” Hessing said. “I don’t think there was anything we could have done. They were open shots, they just wouldn’t fall.”
“We struggled to get into our offense,” Harris said. “We struggled to get open shots so we were forced to take a lot of contested shots and they just weren’t falling for us tonight.”
To make matters worse, Shan Moore was chipping in one of the finest performances of the season on the other end of the floor.
“We maybe could have done a little better job of keeping her from getting the ball but once she got it, she just hit shots,” Presnell said. “I mean we got vertical, we tried to challenge the shots, she’s just talented.”
Moore was 5-of-10 from the field and 2-of-2 from the free-throw line in the second half. She added 13 second half points to her game high 27.
The Broncos cut the lead back down to nine with 5:12 to play but that was the only time La Tech didn’t lead by double-digits in the final seven minutes of the game.
“It’s a tough loss,” Presnell said. “We just hit a dry spell between the 18 minute mark and the 15 minute mark and we just could not buy a basket. The important thing is that we learn from it and improve, so that’s what we’re certainly going to try to do.”
Louisiana Tech came away with the 79-63 win, which improved its record to 12-10 on the season and 7-2 in WAC play. After BSU beat La Tech earlier this year in Ruston, La. it was no surprise the Lady Techsters brought a little more to the table in round two.
“We knew they were going to come in here and compete,” Hessing said. “I just don’t feel we stepped up enough to the competition.”
Even though Saturday night’s loss was a tough one, Presnell and his players still feel good about themselves and their team.
“I have a lot of confidence in our players as people and as competitors,” Presnell said. “I think that we’ll regroup, we’re 17-5, we’re not 5-17.”
“We’re still the team to beat,” BSU’s Jessica Thompson said. “We’re still in first, we just need to take it one game at a time and keep looking forward.”
Boise State will take to the road next week as they play at Idaho on Wednesday night to try to get back on track.
“Every team loses eventually, it’s just how you bounce back,” Hessingsaid.
When asked if this loss will affect the team’s play next week, Presnell said as long as it brings enthusiam and intensity the Broncos will be Ok.
Following Wednesday night’s game at Idaho, Boise State will host San Jose State on Saturday night. The Saturday night game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tip-off and will be played in Bronco Gym rather than Taco Bell Arena.
Box Score
Louisiana Tech 79
S. Moore 10-17 5-8 27, Mangum 5-10 4-4 17, T. Moore 5-6 3-3 13, Sneed 4-6 4-7 12, Metoyer 1-8 2-2 4, Kursh 2-3 0-1 4, Williams 1-2 0-1 2, Levingston 0-3 0-0 0, Dowdell 0-1 0-0 0.
Boise State 63
Thompson 6-18 4-4 17, Harris 3-14 5-8 11, Hessing 5-13 1-1 11, Galassi 4-6 2-3 10, Kepilino 3-4 0-1 8, Begay 0-6 3-3 3, Stewart 1-1 0-0 2, Lee 0-2 1-2 1, Walker 0-0 0-0 0, Reyes 0-0 0-0 0.
Halftime –
Louisiana Tech (39) Boise State (41)
Fouled out – None
Rebounds – La Tech 44 (T. Moore, 12)
Boise State 34 (Hessing, 
Assists – La Tech 10 (Mangum, 6)
Boise State 10 (Hessing, Harris, 3)
Team Fouls – La Tech 20,
Boise State 17
A- 4518
KYE JOHNSON
Assistant Sports Editor
