Lady Techsters get their rings
No. 5 Gamecocks trip Miss. State
NEW YORK — Way before UConn dominated women’s basketball, there was Louisiana Tech.
The Lady Techsters won the first NCAA Tournament title in 1982 and had a 54-game winning streak. The team finally received their championship rings from that inaugural title last weekend. Baylor coach Kim Mulkey was the point guard on that early dynasty but couldn’t be at the ceremony because her second-ranked Baylor Lady Bears had a game in Kansas.
She finally got her ring this past week.
“Yeah, I wish I could have been there … happy for everybody,” Mulkey said. “We had a heck of a team back then, the early ’80s, pretty dominant.”
Nine of the 14 players that are still alive were at the ceremony, including Deb Williamson — the current coordinator of officials for the Big East, American and Atlantic 10 Conferences.
“I think it came at the perfect time,” she said. “I think that when you get into your 50s it means so much more now, our families can enjoy it with us. I wouldn’t have chosen to wait 35 years, we already lost one teammate and a lot of the people who supported us back then aren’t around anymore.”
Williamson said the group went to dinner afterward and shared stories of how they were recruited. Amazingly none of the former players knew each other’s recruitment stories until that dinner.
They did remember the remarkable run they had winning the 1981 AIAW championship and then the NCAA one.
“The year before we went 34-0, and LA Tech made rings for us. When we transitioned to the NCAA that year, we lost one game I think, we were on a 54-game winning streak,” Williamson said. “When we won (the NCAA title), no one talked about the rings, we didn’t pay that much attention to that. They gave us watches that had the NCAA logo on it. We thought maybe a ring would come later, it wasn’t a big deal then.”
(5) SOUTH CAROLINA 64
(4) MISSISSIPPI STATE 61: In Columbia, S.C., A’ja Wilson tied her season high with 26 points, Allisha Gray had 16 of her 17 points in the final two quarters and the Gamecocks (17-1, 7-0) held off the Bulldogs (20-1, 6-1) in an SEC showdown Monday.
The Gamecocks trailed 35-28 at halftime and were still down 48-46 with less than two minutes left in the third period. But behind Wilson and Gray, South Carolina pushed forward for its ninth straight win over the Bulldogs and grabbed control of the conference as it tries for a fourth straight SEC title.
(3) GONZAGA 83, PORTLAND 64: In Portland, Ore., Zach Collins had 13 points and Gonzaga remained the nation’s only undefeated Division I team with a victory over Portland in a game Monday night that was rescheduled because of a winter storm earlier this month.
The Bulldogs have won 20 straight games, their longest streak since winning that many in the 2005-06 and 200304 seasons. Gonzaga is now 8-0 in West Coast Conference play.
Rashad Jackson and D’Marques Tyson had 15 points apiece for Portland (9-11, 2-6 WCC). N.C. STATE 84, (17) DUKE
82: In Durham, N.C., freshman Dennis Smith Jr. scored 32 points to help the Wolfpack (14-7, 3-5 ACC) rally from 12 down late in the first half and stun the Blue Devils (15-5, 3-4).
Abdul-Malik Abu added 19 points for North Carolina State.