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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Betty Lennox did what all pure shooters do when they miss. She kept shooting.
Undaunted after misfiring on nine of her first 10 shots, Lennox kept firing away and scored 25 points to lead top-seeded Louisiana Tech past Old Dominion 86-74 Saturday night in the NCAA Midwest Regional semifinals.
|  | | Tamicha Jackson scored 17 points as the Techsters reached the Elite Eight. |
Lennox was 4-for-18 at one point but said she never got discouraged and finished 10-for-32, including four 3-pointers.
"That's what shooters are supposed to do -- shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, then rebound," Lennox said. "I'm not trying to shoot my team out of it. I just need to keep shooting."
Too quick for Old Dominion, Louisiana Tech (31-2) also held its own in the rebounding battle against the taller Lady Monarchs (29-5) and moved into the regional final Monday night against the winner of the late game between Penn State and Iowa State.
Lennox, cheered on by family members from nearby Independence, Mo., helped the Lady Techsters break it open midway through the second half and keep Leon Barmore coaching for at least one more game.
Barmore, Tech's coach for 18 seasons, has announced he'll retire when his team finishes playing in the tournament. The Lady Techsters are now within one victory of their third straight Final Four appearance and 11th overall.
"I'd love to play three more," Barmore said. "That's the goal of everybody -- to win the national championship."
Louisiana Tech also got a big lift from the inside play of freshman Catrina Frierson, who scored 19 points on 7-for-10 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds. She's averaging 16.3 points in NCAA play.
"I think she's been key the whole tournament," Old Dominion coach Wendy Larry said. "She's playing tremendous basketball now. Her shot selection's good, she's getting to the basket and she's attacking out there."
Tech went ahead to stay late in the first half, then kicked it in after Old Dominion pulled to 52-46 on Lucienne Berthieu's layup with 14:43 left.
Frierson scored on a follow shot and Lennox on a 3-pointer for a 57-46 lead. After two straight Old Dominion baskets, Tech's Christie Sides made a 3 from the left wing and Lennox, who had left the game briefly because of leg cramps, returned to make another 3.
Tamicha Jackson's 3-pointer made it 66-50 and Lennox answered Sharron Francis' 3-pointer with one of her own, putting Tech ahead 69-53 with 10:14 to go.
The lead was never below 10 after that as Tech answered almost every time fourth-seeded Old Dominion scored.
"Down the stretch they got the majority of their offensive rebounds and then had some of those backbreaking 3s," Old Dominion's Natalie Diaz said. "We'd heard about that. They'll take their misses along with the makes and unfortunately for us, their makes came down the stretch."
Jackson added 17 points and Takeisha Lewis had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Lady Techsters, who had 22 offensive rebounds in building a 53-48 edge on the boards.
Berthieu led Old Dominion with 19 points, Hamchetou Maiga scored 16, Diaz 15 and Francis 14.
After some poor shooting early, both teams cranked up their offense and treated fans to an entertaining, fast-paced game.
Old Dominion missed eight of its first nine shots in falling behind 9-2, then came back with a 12-2 run to take the lead and twice led by four points. When Diaz scored on a follow shot -- Old Dominion's fifth offensive rebound in that sequence -- the Lady Monarchs led 23-19 and the angry Barmore called a timeout.
His team responded with a 16-6 run to go up 35-29, and Lennox hit back-to-back jumpers to make it 39-30. Tech led the rest of the way.
"We did what we normally do, we hit some spurts," Barmore said. "It was a good win for us, a good hard-fought win."
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ALSO SEE
Womens College Basketball Scoreboard
Old Dominion NCAA Team Report
Louisiana Tech NCAA Team Report
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Ayana Walker takes off for an exciting layup.
avi: 753 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Betty Lennox puts up the jump shot against the Monarchs.
avi: 507 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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