HOUSTON, Texas – Louisiana Tech begins a two-game conference road swing through Texas Thursday when they face off against the Rice Owls inside Tudor Fieldhouse in Houston, Texas at 7 p.m. This will be the seventh contest on the road for the Lady Techsters in their last nine games.
 
GAME INFORMATION
Date/Time: Thursday, Jan. 27 | 7 p.m. CT
Location: Tudor Fieldhouse (Houston, Texas)
TV/Stream: CUSATV (HERE)
Radio: 97.7 FM | LA Tech Sports Network
Stats: LATechSports.com (HERE)
 
ABOUT LOUISIANA TECH (10-7, 2-4 C-USA)
The Louisiana Tech women's basketball team comes into Thursday's matchup having won both of their last two conference USA games after an 0-4 start beating UTSA at home (79-64) and the CUSA West division leader UAB on the road last Saturday (58-52).
 
Junior Keiunna Walker was recently named the LSWA State College Basketball Player of the Week for the second time this season. Walker netted two game-high 20-point performances against the Roadrunners and Blazers while also pulling down 10 rebounds and dishing out eight assists. 
 
The junior from Lonoke, Ark. is averaging 17.3 ppg on the season and now sits at No. 39 on the all-time Lady Techster career scoring list. She only needs 16 points to pass Hall of Famer Teresa Weatherspoon. Walker is one of only three C-USA players to score in double figures each game this season. 
 
Sophomore Anna Larr Roberson continues to contribute heavily on both ends of the floor averaging 13.0 ppg and 9.3 rpg while also registering a team-high 19 blocks this season (1.2 bpg). She has posted six double-doubles on the year and is just 16 rebounds shy of 500 for her career. 
 
Roberson is also the C-USA leader in free-throw percentage at 85.0 percent and in the last two conference USA seasons has made 59 of her 62 attempts (95.2 percent), including a current streak of 19 in a row. 
 
The Lady Techsters remain one of the top defensive teams in Conference USA across the board ranking in the top five in scoring defense (57.7 ppg), blocked shots (3.7 bpg), turnovers forced (19.6 tfpg) and steals (9.5 spg).

ABOUT RICE (5-8, 0-5 C-USA)
Rice is coming off a heartbreaking four overtime loss to Charlotte last Saturday (88-83) while playing with only eight eligible players. The Owls erased a six-point deficit in the fourth quarter to force overtime. Five players were needed to play 40+ minutes in the first-ever 60-minute game in the program's history.
 
Rice also suffered another short-handed lost to Old Dominion (69-59) just two days prior after being tied going into the fourth quarter. Rice has now dropped five in a row after a 5-3 start to the season. 
 
The Owls are led by a pair of double-digit scorers in sophomore Ashlee Austin (15.7 ppg) and junior Haylee Swayze (12.1 ppg). Austin has scored in double figures in nine of their 13 games including two 30-point performances. 
 
Freshman forward Malia Fisher (9.2 ppg, 8.1 rpg) is top five in C-USA in blocked shots (1.2 bpg) and rebounds and has compiled four double-doubles this season.
 
Rice is averaging 66.8 ppg this season while giving up 68.1 ppg on the defensive end.  

THE SERIES
Louisiana Tech and Rice will meet for the 30th time in women's basketball as the Lady Techsters hold a one game advantage in the all-time series 15-14. The series dates back to the 2000-01 season. 
 
Tech dominated the series early winning seven of the first nine contests and nine of the first 13 up to the 2006-2007 season. The two teams would not meet again until 2013-14 and after Tech rallied off four straight wins from 2016-2018 Rice has won the last six meetings, including the last four in Houston. 
 
LA Tech is 4-9 all-time in games played inside Tudor Fieldhouse with Rice sweeping the Lady Techsters in the two-game series in Houston last season (64-53 and 73-50). Tech's last win in Tudor Fieldhouse came back in the 2017-18 season.

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