Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Louisiana Tech
Malone, Lady Techsters Defeat Thundering Herd
1/13/2018 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Final Stats
Postgame Press Conference
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Alexus Malone finished with 20 points, eight rebounds and six steals to lead visiting Louisiana Tech to a 74-65 win over Marshall Saturday afternoon in the Cam Henderson Center.
The Lady Techsters improved to 12-5 overall and 3-1 in Conference USA, while the Thundering Herd dropped to 6-10 and 0-3 in the league.
LT's Kierra Anthony shook off a 4-12 shooting day to record 14 points, as did Taylor Stahly, who drilled four of her six 3-point attempts. Anthony also chipped in six assists and Zhanae Whitney equaled Malone's eight-rebound effort.
Marshall was led, once again, by Shayna Gore's 19 points (4-8 from 3-point range), while Talequia Hamilton tallied 14 (5-8 shooting) and Kristen Mayo contributed 12 and five assists.
The Lady Techsters cashed in at the free throw line Saturday, making 19 of 22 attempts (86.4 percent), led by Malone's 10-11 outing. The visitors also held considerable edges in bench points (20-5) and second chance points (11-2).
Three of the four quarters were decided by one point, but the second quarter bit Marshall again as LT was better by 10 (25-15).
The Lady Techsters' largest lead came at the 4:36 mark of the second quarter when Stahly hit a triple for a 17-point lead (36-19). The Thundering Herd responded with a 10-2 run, however, to close the margin to nine (38-29) at the half.
The lead got back to 12 (45-33) during the early stages of the third quarter but Marshall stormed back again, this time with a 12-0 run to tie the game on a Kate Zhibareva layup with 4:56 left.
With the LT lead at 13 (65-52) near the midpoint of the fourth quarter, Marshall surged one final time with an 11-0 run to close the gap to two (65-63) on free throws by Gore. Mayo made a layup with 2:02 left to shrink the margin to three (68-65), but the Lady Techsters made a layup and four three throws down the stretch to pull away for the victory.
Gore, who is already the school's all-time leader in 3-pointers made (166), now was 1,165 points, good enough for 11th on the school's all-time scoring list, 26 behind Cindy McCauley's total from 1994-98.
Hamilton blocked four more shots and now has 119, tying the total by Modupe Ishola (2003-07) and Chelsey Romero (2013-16) for third all-time at Marshall.
The Thundering Herd will be back in action Thursday at Old Dominion for a 7 p.m. tip.
