Chris Macaluso
LSUsports.net
BATON ROUGE — The 12th-ranked LSU women’s basketball team extended its winning streak to five games Tuesday night when it defeated the Prairie View Lady Panthers 79-32 at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
Prairie View’s 32 points are the fourth fewest allowed ever by a Lady Tiger team. The record for fewest points allowed was set against Prairie View in 1995 when LSU gave up just 28 to the Lady Panthers.
Four LSU players finished in double figures scoring, led by freshman guard Doneeka Hodges’ 14 points. Guard Marie Ferdinand, who earned Southeastern Conference player of the Week honors, finished with 13.
The Lady Tigers, coming off a huge 62-55 win at sixth-ranked Purdue last Saturday, started the game a little flat and trailed 3-0 in the opening two minutes.
But the LSU defense took over forcing 17 turnovers in the first half and converting steals into lay-ups on the other end of the floor. The Lady Tigers held Prairie View to just 12 points the rest of the first half, while the LSU offense got on track at about the 13:00 mark to take a 41-15 lead into the locker room.
“When we shifted to a full court press in the first half, that was the difference,” said LSU Coach Sue Gunter. “They never really recovered from that. We got an awful lot of playing time for some players who really needed it and we got to rest some who really needed the rest.”
The Lady Tigers hit 16-32 shots in the first half while holding Prairie View to just 6-26 for 23.1 percent in the first half and just 17.6 percent from the floor for the game.
LSU extended its lead to 30 points, 47-17 at the 17:40 mark of the second half when forward DeTrina White dished the ball to April Brown along the baseline for an uncontested lay-up.
Brown, who finished the game with 11 points, continued to dominate the baseline hitting another lay-up to extend the Lady Tiger lead to 52-20 with 14:45 to play.
The Lady Tigers extended their lead to 41 with 9:00 to play when forward Ke-Ke Tardy hit a short fall-away jumper to make the score 64-23. LSU continued to build its lead throughout the remainder of the game while holding the Lady Panthers to just 15 second half points.
LSU will take a few days off for the Christmas Holiday before returning to the Maravich Assembly Center to take on Delaware St. Dec. 28. The Lady Tigers open SEC play Jan. 4 when they travel to Knoxville to take on second-ranked Tennessee.