By DARRELL MOODY
Appeal Staff Writer
FRESNO - The Rice Owls got what they came to town for - another shot at perennial powerhouse Louisiana Tech.
Rice, 21-8, rolled to a 13-point first half lead en route to a 55-42 win over Tulsa Friday afternoon in the WAC women's semifinals at Save Mart Center.
In the other semifinal, the Lady Techsters, 26-2, scored 43 second-half points and pounded UTEP 74-47.
"It wasn't a pretty second half," said Rice coach Cristy McKinney, whose team managed just 23 points. "We didn't shoot it well in the second half. We know we have to do a better job rebounding wise.
"When we got here, we wanted to get to the championship game, and we've done that. And we know what we have to do better to have a chance to win tomorrow."
The teams split during the season. Rice beat the Lady Techsters 87-84 back on Jan. 5 in Houston, and the Lady Techsters returned the favor on March 4 with an 82-70 win.
McKinney doesn't believe in any mystique surrounding the powerful Lady Techsters.
"Number one we have beaten them," she said. "We match up depth in the paint. If we get a couple of fouls we can go to the bench and not step back too far."
An 8-2 run fueled by three Lindsey Maynard buckets gave the Owls an early 23-12 lead with 6:33 left. Rice finished the first half with a 13-point halftime lead, 32-19, as Tulsa couldn't find the basket, shooting a putrid 18.9 from the field.
"It probably wasn't our best half of basketball," Tulsa coach Kathy McConnell-Miller said. "We truly struggled on the offensive end. It was probably the worst performance of the year statistically speaking. They took us far away from the basket and didn't let us get into what we wanted to get into."
A 9-1 run in the second half gave the Owls a commanding 45-26 lead with 12:10 remaining.
If it wasn't for the play of Jillian Robbins, the game would have been a disaster for the Golden Hurricane. The slender forward scored 23 points and grabbed 23 rebounds, 16 of those caroms coming at the offensive end.
"I try to go out and play well against everyone," said Robbins, who grew up in Houston. "Being from Houston, you might go out with the mentality of having something to prove. Coach set me down and told me I din't have anything to prove. Maybe I did that in the first game, but this time it was just play."
The Lady Techsters only led by eight at the half, 31-23, but went on a 16-0 run in a six-minute span to grab a 49-28 lead. Five different players scored in the surge, and Amisha Carter (23 points, 12 rebounds) and Lakiste Barkus (8 points) led the way with four points apiece. Trina Frierson finished with 12 points.
"UTEP is a team that caused us problems all season because they are big inside and have solid guard play," said Louisiana Tech coach Kurt Budke. "I thought we picked our spots offensively and knew when to attack the basket."
outscored UTEP 43-24 in the second half to secure an easy win.
Louisiana Tech outscored UTEP 16-0 in a six-minute span to