ST. THOMAS, Virgin Isl. — Southwest Missouri State guard Jackie Stiles, the nation’s leading scorer last season, poured in 42 points Friday night to lead the No. 17 Lady Bears to an 85-75 victory over 10th-ranked LSU in the Paradise Jam Classic.
LSU, 2-2, will play ninth-ranked Penn State at 4 p.m. Saturday in the tournament consolation round. Southwest Missouri State, 2-0, faces No. 13 Texas Tech at 6:30 p.m. in the championship contest.
Texas Tech defeated Penn State, 79-71, in the opening game of the tournament.
The LSU-Penn State game will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Network, and it can be heard in Baton Rouge on 107.3 FM. The game will also be broadcast on the Internet at LSUsports.net.
Stiles hit 13 of 18 shots from the field Friday, including 3-for-3 from three-point range, and she was a perfect 13-for-13 from the foul line. Stiles led the Lady Bears to a 36-27 halftime advantage, and Southwest Missouri led by as many as 22 points in the second half.
The Lady Bears hit 49.1 percent (28-for-57) of their shots from the field, while limiting LSU to 39.7 percent (29-for-73) shooting from the floor. LSU was just 11-for-38 (28.9 percent) from the field in the first half.
Southwest Missouri State was a sizzling 25-for-28 from the free throw line, compared to 12-for-17 for LSU. The Lady Bears held a 44-33 rebounding advantage, and they forced 10 LSU turnovers which resulted in 17 SMS points.
“The first five minutes of each half were the difference in the game,” LSU head coach Sue Gunter said. “We missed some uncontested shots early in each half which really hurt us. We get down by 20 in the second half, and we did what we had to do to come back, but we waited too long to do it. Give a great deal of credit to Stiles for what she did tonight. The thing that bothers me the most about her was that she was 13-for-13 from the line. We can’t allow a player of her caliber to have that many opportunities.”
Stiles’ effort was complimented by forward Carly Deer, who scored 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
LSU guard Marie Ferdinand led five Lady Tigers in double figures, as she scored 23 points while recording five assists, three rebounds and two steals.
LSU twins Roneeka and Doneeka Hodges added 12 and 11 points, respectively.
LSU, which dressed only seven players, played the game without forward Ke-Ke Tardy and guard Angelia Crockett, who were serving a one-game suspension for fighting in the Lady Tigers’ victory last Saturday over Sam Houston State.
Crockett and Tardy, both starters in the LSU line-up, will play in Saturday’s game versus Penn State.
“I’ve got confidence in the resiliency of this team,” Gunter said. “We’ll have the addition of Crockett and Tardy tomorrow night, and that should help us. The thing that bothered me tonight was our inability to do what we were supposed to do in the first five minutes of each half. Those are the most critical 10 minutes of every game.
“We’ve got to fight our way out of this, and we will show up for Penn State tomorrow night.”