La. Tech women win game for the ages

RENO - It was a game for the ages.

A gutsy performance by Erica Taylor and four clutch free throws by Tasha Crain carried Louisiana Tech back from a 15-point second-half deficit to a thrilling 92-87 double-overtime win over Fresno State Friday afternoon in the WAC Tournament semifinals at Lawlor Events Center.

The win put the Lady Techsters (20-8) into the title game today at noon against Rice. Fresno State fell to 20-10. It stretched Louisiana Tech's streak of reaching conference championship games to 13, four in the WAC and nine in the Sun Belt. Tech hasn't missed a conference title game since the 1991-92 season.

"One of the best college basketball games I've been involved with in 20 years," Lady Techster coach Kurt Budke said. "Somehow we found the energy, found the effort and fight to come back and win it. I've never been any more proud of a single game in all my life.

"There were a couple of times we could have quit. As much as you sit and hope that they will dig down deep, and they did."

The score was tied at 73 at the end of regulation, and at 83 after the first overtime thanks to a banked three-pointer by Veronica Mack.

Fresno State took an 86-83 lead 47 seconds into the second overtime, converting two Louisiana Tech turnovers. Mirenda Swearengin (23 points) hit a driving layup and Arrita Lane (22 points) knocked down a free throw. Taylor, who led the Techsters with 25 points, cut it to 87-85 with 2:28 left, but Lane knocked down one of two foul shots for an 87-85 lead with 1:41 remaining.

That would be Fresno State's last point. Fresno State turned the ball over three straight times in the final 1:08. Amy Parrish was called for traveling and Ty Moore hit a single foul shot to make it 88-87. Swearengin turned the ball over on the next possession, Crain drained two free throws for a 90-87 lead with 12.3 left. Fresno State's Chantella Perera stepped over the line trying to inbound the ball, which all but dashed Fresno State's hopes of a comeback. Crain was fouled and hit two more free throws.

While Crain hit some clutch free throws (Tech hit 29 of 36), it was Taylor's play that got the Lady Techsters to the overtime period.

Trailing 73-67, Taylor scored five of the last six Lady Techster points, all from the foul line, in the last 2:44 tying the game at 73. In the first overtime, Taylor gave Tech a 79-77 lead on two free throws with 1:33 left. She made it 81-80 with 59.4 left. Lakiste Barkus (9 points) made it 83-80 with two free throws, setting the stage for Mack's heroics.

"I don't know how she did it," Budke said of Taylor. "She's not in the shape she was last year. She was amazing. She's a fighter like her husband."

"I just try to play as hard as I can and feed off my teammates," she said. "We feed off each other."

For Fresno State, it was utter heartbreak.

"We played 36, 34 minutes of high-level basketball," Fresno State interim coach Adrian Wiggins said. "It was inexperience not in the fact that the players were inexperienced but they were new to that situation.

"We did not come out on the winning side, but we played our hearts out and did some really good things out there."