March 6, 2002

TULSA, Okla. (AP) - Even before Louisiana Tech's first-round victory was complete, coach Leon Barmore was looking ahead to the rest of the Western Athletic Conference women's basketball tournament.

Barmore went to his reserves early Wednesday night as No. 8 Louisiana Tech beat Boise State 70-53.

Top-seeded Louisiana Tech (23-4) jumped out to a quick 15-4 lead and expanded its advantage to 30 points midway through the second half.

Barmore said he was not concerned that his Lady Techsters shot only 38.1 percent for the game and committed 15 turnovers.

"I thought the right people got the right minutes," he said. "With the right people in the game, we'll shoot all right."

With an eye toward the semifinals and Saturday's championship game, Barmore didn't want any of his players to be in the game more than 27 minutes.

"The defensive intensity was very good," Barmore said. "But when you sub as much as we did, you're going to have some moments where the game is a little rough."

Ayana Walker led the Techsters with 15 points and eight rebounds, while Brooke Lassiter added 10 points, three rebounds and three assists.

"As a player, you want to play as many minutes as possible," Lassiter said. "But its great that we can get minutes for everyone like that and still win."

Boise State (10-20) lost for the third time this season to the Techsters, but took pride in outscoring Louisiana Tech 29-26 in the second half.

"They're a great team and we're all going to be rooting for them in the NCAA," Broncos coach Trisha Stevens said. "Our kids played hard, and we did win the second half.

"That was key for us. We wanted to say for 20 minutes we outplayed one of the best teams in the country."

Mandy Welch led Boise State with 18 points.