Arkansas State /Louisiana Tech La. Tech Women's College Basketball recap on ESPN

Cheryl Ford had 18 points and five rebounds in her first start of the season to lead No. 8 Louisiana Tech to an 82-62 victory over Arkansas State on Saturday night.

"Cheryl's play was very encouraging and it was a bigger lineup," Barmore said of the 6-foot-2 sophomore. "We'll be looking at that more and more throughout the season."

Ford scored seven points in the first three minutes as Tech built a 13-2 lead en route to its 41st straight regular-season Sun Belt Conference victory. The Lady Techsters have won 64 straight regular-season conference games at home.

"I'm glad coach Barmore gave me a chance to start. Our first way to win the game is to get the ball to the post and that is what we did tonight," Ford said. "We went with a big lineup tonight and I think it works better."

Kenya Bibbs added 14 points, while Ayana Walker and Takeisha Lewis each had 11. Lewis also grabbed 11 rebounds as Tech (14-4, 5-0) finished with a 39-27 rebounding advantage over Arkansas State (8-8, 2-3).

Tech opened its lead to 34-17 with 4:19 left in the first half, when Brooke Lassiter tipped a ball that was headed out of bounds to Walker for a layup.

Arkansas State closed to 41-31 at halftime.

"You have to hold your ground in the first four minutes and we didn't do it," Arkansas State coach Bryan Boyer said. "We weren't ready for the emotion right away."

Keeshia Evans led Arkansas State with 29 points.

Arkansas State attempted 21 3-pointers, hitting only six, and finished the game shooting 38.6 percent overall from the field.

Tech hit 52.5 percent.

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Women's College Basketball Scoreboard

Arkansas State Clubhouse

Louisiana Tech Clubhouse