BATON ROUGE — It wasn’t pretty, but it was a season-opening win for the 19th-ranked LSU women’s basketball team, 101-58, over Grambling on Tuesday night in the PMAC.
In a game that included 55 fouls, 31 missed free throws and 48 turnovers, LSU had six players score in double figures and shot 60 percent (36 of 60) from the field to run away with the win. The Lady Tigers of LSU scored 100 points for the first time since beating Jackson State, 103-35, on Dec. 28, 1999.
LSU (1-0) won its second straight season opener and its 21st straight home opener since a 75-74 loss to McNeese State to start the 1981-82 season. The Lady Tigers also increased their non-conference home winning streak to 55 games, the longest in the Southeastern Conference.
Grambling fell to 0-2 on the season and shot only 34.4 percent from the field (22 of 64).
Freshman Scholanda Dorrell led the LSU Lady Tigers with 22 points, while Kisha James added 20 and Ke-Ke Tardy had 15 points and 15 rebounds. Roneeka Hodges scored 17 points and had seven rebounds, and her twin sister Doneeka Hodges contributed 14 points and a team-leading seven assists. LSU blocked 10 shots and had 14 steals in the contest.
LaKandra Davis led the Grambling Lady Tigers with 14 points, while Shrieka Evans was the only other Lady Tiger in double figures with 11.
With a pair of field goals by Roneeka Hodges including a three-point play, LSU opened a 7-0 lead on 3-of-4 shooting in the first two minutes of the game before Grambling scored its first points on a pair of free throws by Chovanique Kibble.
In a rough first four minutes of play, the teams combined for nine fouls including two by LSU’s Aiysha Smith and Tillie Willis that put both on the bench. LSU led 13-4 at the first media timeout with 15:54 remaining in the half.
On 75-percent shooting from the field (9-of-12), LSU increased its lead to 14, 20-6, with just under 12 minutes to go in the half, while Grambling continued to struggle getting the ball to in the goal. Grambling made only three of its first 13 shots for 23.1 percent including 0-of-3 from behind the three-point arc.
At the 8:55 mark, Ke-Ke Tardy put back a missed three-pointer and was fouled for a three-point play and a 31-11 lead.
LSU’s shooting percentage fell off to 60.0 percent (15 of 25), allowing Grambling to keep pace and trail by 20, 44-24, with 2:30 remaining in the half.
The LSU Lady Tigers extended the lead to 51-30 at halftime.
LSU opened a 29-point lead, 67-38, on a put-back layup by Smith at the 13:13 mark of the second half. Smith then earned her first double-digit scoring night as a Lady Tiger when Dorrell slid a pass between two Grambling defenders to Smith cutting for a layup and a 75-44 lead with 10 minutes to play.
The Lady Tigers continued to increase the lead throughout a second half that was plagued with fouls and turnovers.
LSU returns to action on Saturday at noon CST when it plays the first game of the www.womenscollegehoops.com Crawfish Classic in the PMAC. Virginia Tech and Northwestern meet in game two of the tournament on Saturday afternoon before the winners and losers pair up in championship and consolation play on Sunday.