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LSU LADY TIGERS WIN 10TH IN A ROW
REMAIN UNBEATEN IN SEC PLAY WITH 58-48 COME-FROM-BEHIND WIN OVER NO. 24 SOUTH CAROLINA
BATON
ROUGE – All-America candidate LaSondra Barrett scored a game-high 14
points and the LSU women’s basketball team compiled a 12-0 second-half
run with suffocating defense to rally past 24th-ranked South Carolina,
58-48, and win its 10th straight game on Thursday night in the Pete
Maravich Assembly Center.
The Lady Tigers (13-3)
improved to 4-0 in Southeastern Conference play for the fifth time in
school history and the first since the 2007-08 season. The 10-game
winning streak is LSU’s longest since winning 14 in a row in 2007-08.
LSU is one of two unbeaten teams left in conference play after Kentucky
defeated Tennessee in the final seconds on Thursday night.
“With
us playing at home, we want to make sure that we’re sending a message
that the PMAC is a very difficult place to come here and play at,” said
LSU head coach Nikki Caldwell. “I’m really proud of this team in really
being a defensive-minded team. I’m very pleased with our effort in the
second half, considering we got off to a sluggish start. Krystal
Forthan came in and gave us a spark, and Bianca Lutley was very calm
and poised at the point. A lot of players did some good things. It was
a great win for our program.”
The Gamecocks (14-3, 3-1)
saw an eight-game winning streak come to an end in surrendering a
season-high 58 points to LSU. It was South Carolina’s 11th straight
loss in the Maravich Center, dropping to 1-12 all-time in Baton Rouge.
Thursday’s
game clashed the SEC’s two best defenses as South Carolina entered the
contest with the nation’s second-best scoring defense, holding
opponents to 45.2 points per game. LSU ranked third nationally allowing
only 46.5 points per contest.
Barrett converted 8-of-10 from
the free throw line, including six straight free throws in the final
four minutes following a double-technical foul on Gamecock head coach
Dawn Staley, who was ejected from the game at the 3:20 mark. LSU shot
20-of-25 from the line for the game for 80 percent.
Destini
Hughes continued her recent scoring spree with 11 points and freshman
Krystal Forthan grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds -- 10 of those coming
in the second half. Bianca Lutley provided a spark off the bench with
several key shots in a seven-point effort.
South Carolina
turned a 27-20 halftime lead into a 10-point advantage in the first
minute of the second half, but the Lady Tigers cut the deficit to 30-26
when Forthan grabbed her own miss and scored. LSU continued to chip at
the score and finally knotted the game for the first time since it was
6-6 when Lutley converted an acrobatic layup in the lane with 11:39 to
go.
With the score tied at 33, the Lady Tigers went on a 10-0
run in a span of two minutes with one hustle play after another. Lutley
added another layup and Forthan’s dominant second half included a steal
at midcourt and a transition bucket from Courtney Jones. LSU led 39-33
with 10:02 remaining in the contest.
“Both teams did what they
wanted to do defensively,” said Caldwell. “The thing that I felt that
separated us was when we changed up our defense and Courtney Jones was
on the top of our press. Our pressure really picked up a notch, and we
were able to turn them over and score the basketball.”
South
Carolina was able to come within a point, but a 12-0 LSU run starting
at the 5:47 mark put the game away. Jones grabbed a Barrett missed free
throw for a putback shot. Staley was then tossed from the game at the
3:20 mark and Barrett made six straight free throws to ice the game.
LSU led 53-40 on Barrett’s final free throw. Hughes accounted for LSU’s
final five points at the line.
LSU shot 42.2 percent and the
Lady Tigers maintained the nation’s second-best field goal percentage
defense by holding the Gamecocks to 29.6 percent from the floor.
LSU plays its next two league games on the road beginning at Florida on Sunday.
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