| | Associated Press
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Louisiana Tech coach Leon Barmore
was concerned his team would be exhausted from playing three games
in four days.
|  | | Louisiana Tech's Ayana Walker (12) goes for the basket and draws a foul from Virginia's Schuye LaRue on her way to a team-high 15 points.
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The Techsters didn't look like they needed any rest.
Ayana Walker's 15 points led five players in double digits
Sunday as No. 8 Louisiana Tech advanced to the Preseason NIT
championship with a 72-59 victory against Virginia (No. 15 ESPN/USA Today; No. 13 Associated Press). The Techsters will face Purdue (No. 6 ESPN/USA Today; No. 6 AP) in the championship game Monday
night.
"After the first few minutes, I really thought we were going to
be leg weary," Barmore said after the game Sunday. "We really
reached back, and that's what pleased me."
The Techsters (3-1) needed that extra effort in the second
half, as they held off a Virginia (2-1) run. Louisiana Tech built a
43-32 lead, its largest of the game, early in the second half.
But Virginia's Telisha Quarles made three 3-pointers and
Svetlana Volnaya added one to trail 52-50 with 8:50 remaining.
"It was just disappointing to me our team didn't respond better
once we did come back," said Cavaliers coach Debbie Ryan.
The Techsters got two 3-pointers from Essence Perry to help
push the lead back to 62-55 and end any more scoring threats from
the Cavaliers.
Brooke Lassiter scored 12 points, and Takeisha Lewis, Perry, and
Amber Obaze each scored 10. Walker and Obaze both had nine
rebounds, as Louisiana Tech held a 39-20 rebounding edge.
"Walker, to me, was just a real All-American," Barmore said.
"We really ask her to do a lot."
Perry was 3-for-5 from 3-point range and had 11 assists.
Quarles scored 14 points, Schuye LaRue had 16 and Volnaya had 12
for Virginia. LaRue had 13 rebounds.
The score was tied at 23 midway through the first half. But
Louisiana Tech went on a 14-5 run, with seven of those points from
Bibbs, and led 37-28 at halftime.
"We were down eight or nine points at halftime. That's
nothing," Ryan said. "It wasn't something I didn't think we
couldn't come back from."
Virginia missed 16 of its first 21 shots, and was just 13 of 34
overall in the first half.
Louisiana Tech was 14 of 18 from the free-throw line. Virginia
made two in eight attempts.
Texas will play Virginia in the consolation game, also
Monday night.
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