Tamicha Jackson may have missed 10 of her first 16 shots, but she wasn’t worried about her 17th.
Jackson hit a 15-foot jumper with 22 seconds and No. 4 Louisiana Tech held off 15th-ranked Western Kentucky 69-68 in the Sun Belt Conference tournament championship Saturday at Ruston, La.
“I have confidence in my shot and it was there, so I took it,” she said. “The fact that I wasn’t having a good night of shooting didn’t hurt my confidence at all. I felt like I could make it.”
Western Kentucky, behind 69-66, tried unsuccessfully to get into position for a three-point goal. Leslie Johnson, drove for a layup and the final one-point margin.
“Maybe I should have set us up with a pick to where we could have maybe broke somebody free for a three, but their man-to-man defense did a great job on it,” said Western Kentucky coach Steve Small.
Amanda Wilson, the tournament MVP, had 23 points and 13 rebounds for Tech (26-3), which earned the Sun Belt Conference’s automatic bid for the third straight year. Jackson finished with 17 points and Monica Maxwell added 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Johnson led all scorers with 25 points and nine rebounds for Western Kentucky (25-8).
The Lady Techsters have won 10 in a row and 50 straight at home, the nation’s longest home streak. Their last loss was at Western Kentucky.
Stanford 97, Oregon St. 74: Kristin Folkl had 23 points, eight rebounds and three steals in 25 minutes to lead the No. 5 Cardinal (21-5, 17-1) past the host Beavers (7-20, 2-16).
The victory may have been costly for Stanford, who won its 15th straight game and 19th of 20. Vanessa Nygaard, their top three-point shooter and a seasonlong starter, suffered an undetermined left knee injury in the second half.
Texas Tech 71, Kansas 53: Rene Hanebutt hit five of six three-point shots and scored 21 points, leading No. 6 Texas Tech (25-4) to victory over Kansas (21-8) for the championship of the Big 12 tournament.
Arizona 84, UCLA 73: Adia Barnes had 24 points and 13 rebounds as the No. 9 Wildcats (21-6, 14-4) downed the No. 23 Bruins (19-8, 14-4). The win capped a season sweep of UCLA and gave host Arizona a school record for conference victories in a season.
Fla. International 86, Ga. St. 50: Gergana Branzova had 21 points and 10 rebounds to lead the No. 11 Golden Panthers (28-1) over the Panthers (17-11) in the Trans America Athletic Conference championship game at Miami. Florida International set a school record for victories and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament for the fourth time in five years.
Stephen F. Austin 84, NE La. 52: Anitra Davis and Katrina Price each scored 19 points and Christie Smith had 18 points and 12 rebounds as the No. 20 Ladyjacks (25-3) whipped the Lady Indians (19-9) in the championship game of the Southland Conference tournament at Shreveport, La.
