Box Score
RUSTON, La.--Louisiana Tech flexed its basketball muscle with a commanding 83-45 win over Hawaii Thursday night at the Thomas Assembly Center. The Rainbow Wahine, who remain winless against the Lady Techsters in 13 tries, dropped to 5-15 overall and 3-8 in the WAC with its fourth straight loss.
Louisiana Tech, ranked sixth in the nation, improved to 18-2 overall and stayed atop the WAC at 11-1 with their 10th consecutive win. The Lady Techsters also extended their win streak to 157 straight over unranked foes at the Thomas Assembly Center.
La Tech stormed out of the gates with the game's first 12 points. UH went the first 5:20 without a point, until Jade Abele hit a 3-pointer at the 14:40 mark. By then the Lady Techesters had built a double-digit lead and were well on their way to a lead that would balloon to as many as 30 in the first half before ending at 45-17 at the break.
Things didn't get prettier in the second half with a near instant replay of the start of the game. La Tech scored the first 11 points of the second frame, before Janevia Taylor's bucket ended the run more than five minutes in.
La Tech's pressure defense forced a season-high 29 UH turnovers and generated numerous fast break opportunities. As a result the Lady Techsters also shot better than 50 percent from the floor (53 percent), the first time that has happened this season against a stingy UH defense and just the second time that has happened in the last 81 contests.
Abele led UH with 14 points and added five rebounds. Dalia Solia, who earned her first career start and became the fifth different freshman to start a game this season, grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. Amber Obaze led Louisiana Tech with 17 points.
UH looks to shake its current losing streak when it next travels to Dallas to take on SMU in a Valentine's Day matchup. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. CST on Saturday.
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