All-Tournament Team:
Doneeka Hodges, LSU (MVP)
Aiysha Smith, LSU
Scholanda Dorrell, LSU
Sarah Hicks, Virginia Tech
Chrystal Starling, Virginia Tech
Angela Davidson, Northwestern State
BATON ROUGE — The LSU women’s basketball team came from seven points down late in the second half to win the championship of the womenscollegehoops.com Crawfish Classic over Virginia Tech, 66-65, on Sunday afternoon in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
LSU improved to 3-0 on the season, while Virginia Tech lost its first game and fell to 2-1. LSU improved to 12-0 all-time in the Crawfish Classic and would like to thank first-year national tournament sponsor www.womenscollegehoops.com.
The Lady Tigers shot 54.0 percent from the field in the win (27 of 50) and overcame a much taller and deeper Virginia Tech team that shot 48.1 percent from the field (25 of 52).
Tournament MVP Doneeka Hodges led the Lady Tigers with a career-high 21 points, while Aiysha Smith added 11 points and 10 assists. Kisha James had her second double-digit assist performance of the young season with 10. Scholanda Dorrell had 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting, as the freshman led the way with key baskets down the stretch.
Sarah Hicks led the way for the Hokies with 28 points on 11-of-18 shooting, including 20 points in the first half.
LSU started the game 13-of-19 from the field (68.4 percent) to take a 28-22 lead over the Hokies with 4:07 left in the first half, as Doneeka Hodges sparked the Lady Tigers with 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting.
As the Lady Tigers missed their next three shots from the field, Virginia Tech scored seven straight coming out of a timeout to take a 29-28 lead with 2:07 left in the half, its first of the game.
Led by Hicks’ 20 points, Virginia Tech led 34-31 at the half. The Lady Tigers shot 56 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes (14 of 25) while Virginia Tech was at 51.9 percent (14 of 27). Virginia Tech used a 12-2 run to take command at the end of the half.
After LSU tied the game at 36-36, Virginia Tech continued to work the ball inside with success against the shorter LSU defense to take a 43-40 lead. The Lady Tigers then took their first lead of the second half on two free throws and a short jumper by Smith after a terrific interior pass.
With strong play inside the lane, the Hokies took the lead back with a 6-0 run at the 11:14 mark, 51-46, leading to an LSU timeout. Virginia Tech took its largest lead, 57-50, with 8:25 to play until Scholanda Dorrell cut under the basket and took the feed from Kisha James for a layup.
LSU cut the lead to three, 61-58, on a jumper by Ke-Ke Tardy and stepped up the defensive pressure to force Hicks’ third personal foul of the game. Dorrell then canned a pull-up jumper on the fast break to bring the Lady Tigers within one, 61-60 for the first time since late in the first half.
The Lady Tigers then took the lead momentarily on a fast-break basket by Smith, before Nicole Jones answered on the other end. LSU took a timeout with 2:11 to play, trailing 63-62.
A heads-up 50-foot chest pass from James to Doneeka Hodges after a missed basket put LSU up 64-63 with 1:03 remaining. Virginia Tech took a timeout to set up a play inside to Hicks, but it was foiled when Smith anticipated the pass from Kublina. The Lady Tigers took the ball full-speed down the court and Dorrell hit a pull-up jumper off the glass on the right side to go up by three, 66-63, with 24.2 seconds remaining.
Hicks missed a 23-foot three-pointer with nine seconds to play but Jones got the rebound and scored the layup rather than looking for another attempt from behind the arc.
James missed the front end of the one-and-one after a foul, but a 60-foot heave to the basket failed to give LSU the one-point win.
LSU returns to action on Thursday evening at 7 in Austin, Texas, against the Longhorns.
BATON ROUGE — With only 0.3 second left on the clock and trailing, 59-58, Tennessee-Martin point guard T.J. Barker’s 35-foot prayer was disallowed after the buzzer and the Northwestern State Demons held on to win the consolation game of the www.womenscollegehoops.com Crawfish Classic on Sunday afternoon at the Maravich Assembly Center.
UT-Martin, which fell to LSU by 48 on Saturday, fell to 1-3 on the season. Northwestern State improved to 1-1 overall.
Angela Davidson led the Lady Demons with 29 points on 10-of-24 shooting from the field and 8-of-11 free throws. LaTerrica Dobin and Anna Means each added seven points for NSU. Tracy Webb led the Skyhawks with 12 points and seven rebounds, while Amy Watson had seven points. Barker led UT-Martin with four assists, all in the second half after picking up two quick first-half fouls.
NSU had 24 offensive rebounds on its way to out-rebounded UT-Martin, 51-42. Both teams struggled from the field, as NSU shot only 29.4 percent in the win and UT-Martin shot 34.6 percent.
Despite shooting only 33.3 percent from the field in the first half (12 of 36), Northwestern State led 34-27 at the break. UT-Martin made only eight shots in the first 20 minutes on the way to a 34.8 field-goal percentage.
The Lady Demons went up by as many as 10 in the half, 26-16, on a free throw by Davidson. Davidson had 20 of NSU’s 34 points and eight of the 12 field goals in the half, while the rest of the team was 4-of-22 shooting.
Both teams continued to struggle from the field in the first 10 minutes of the second half, as UT-Martin cut the lead to 40-39 with 12:16 remaining in the contest. However, the Skyhawks missed their next three shots including a layup and an open three-pointer by Barker that would have tied the score at 42-42.
Consequently, Northwestern State went on a 9-2 run to move ahead 49-41. UT-Martin again fought back to within one, 49-48, on a trey from the left wing by Barker and a second-chance layup by Danielle Page with 6:27 remaining.
NSU went up 57-50 with 3:48 left to play until Barker answered with a pair of clutch free throws and assisted on back-to-back baskets by LaShanta Morrow and Webb to cut the lead to one, 57-56.
UT-Martin got the ball back after two misses by NSU and avoided a five-second call with a 30-second timeout with 10 seconds left on the shot clock. The Skyhawks then took a 58-57 lead with a 16-foot turnaround jumper by Kelly Pendleton.
Webb was called for an over-the-back foul on NSU’s next possession and Davidson converted two free throws for a 59-58 lead. After a missed shot by UT-Martin, NSU’s Katrina Swanigan missed two free throws and then turned the ball over after chasing down the rebound.
Pendleton missed another turnaround jumper with five seconds left, but NSU turned the ball over on a traveling call while trying to run out the clock.
UT-Martin had one last chance with 0.3 seconds on the clock, but Barker’s 35-foot three-pointer was released after the buzzer and did not count.
BATON ROUGE — With only 0.3 second left on the clock and trailing, 59-58, Tennessee-Martin point guard T.J. Barker’s 35-foot prayer was disallowed after the buzzer and the Northwestern State Demons held on to win the consolation game of the www.womenscollegehoops.com Crawfish Classic on Sunday afternoon at the Maravich Assembly Center.
UT-Martin, which fell to LSU by 48 on Saturday, fell to 1-3 on the season. Northwestern State improved to 1-1 overall.
Angela Davidson led the Lady Demons with 29 points on 10-of-24 shooting from the field and 8-of-11 free throws. LaTerrica Dobin and Anna Means each added seven points for NSU. Tracy Webb led the Skyhawks with 12 points and seven rebounds, while Amy Watson had seven points. Barker led UT-Martin with four assists, all in the second half after picking up two quick first-half fouls.
NSU had 24 offensive rebounds on its way to out-rebounded UT-Martin, 51-42. Both teams struggled from the field, as NSU shot only 29.4 percent in the win and UT-Martin shot 34.6 percent.
Despite shooting only 33.3 percent from the field in the first half (12 of 36), Northwestern State led 34-27 at the break. UT-Martin made only eight shots in the first 20 minutes on the way to a 34.8 field-goal percentage.
The Lady Demons went up by as many as 10 in the half, 26-16, on a free throw by Davidson. Davidson had 20 of NSU’s 34 points and eight of the 12 field goals in the half, while the rest of the team was 4-of-22 shooting.
Both teams continued to struggle from the field in the first 10 minutes of the second half, as UT-Martin cut the lead to 40-39 with 12:16 remaining in the contest. However, the Skyhawks missed their next three shots including a layup and an open three-pointer by Barker that would have tied the score at 42-42.
Consequently, Northwestern State went on a 9-2 run to move ahead 49-41. UT-Martin again fought back to within one, 49-48, on a trey from the left wing by Barker and a second-chance layup by Danielle Page with 6:27 remaining.
NSU went up 57-50 with 3:48 left to play until Barker answered with a pair of clutch free throws and assisted on back-to-back baskets by LaShanta Morrow and Webb to cut the lead to one, 57-56.
UT-Martin got the ball back after two misses by NSU and avoided a five-second call with a 30-second timeout with 10 seconds left on the shot clock. The Skyhawks then took a 58-57 lead with a 16-foot turnaround jumper by Kelly Pendleton.
Webb was called for an over-the-back foul on NSU’s next possession and Davidson converted two free throws for a 59-58 lead. After a missed shot by UT-Martin, NSU’s Katrina Swanigan missed two free throws and then turned the ball over after chasing down the rebound.
Pendleton missed another turnaround jumper with five seconds left, but NSU turned the ball over on a traveling call while trying to run out the clock.
UT-Martin had one last chance with 0.3 seconds on the clock, but Barker’s 35-foot three-pointer was released after the buzzer and did not count.