BATON ROUGE — Aiysha Smith, Roneeka Hodges and Ke-Ke Tardy all posted double-doubles to lead the LSU women’s basketball team to an 81-49 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette on Tuesday evening in the Maravich Assembly Center.
No. 19-ranked LSU, coming off two tough losses to nationally ranked Texas and Purdue last week, improved to 4-2 overall, while Louisiana-Lafayette fell to 1-5 on the season.
The three double-doubles in the game marks the first time LSU has had three players record a double-double since Feb. 6, 1991, when the Lady Tigers beat Alcorn State, 86-76. In that game, current associate head coach Pokey Chatman had 16 points and 10 assists while Shelia Johnson had 28 points and 14 rebounds and Barbara Henderson had 17 points and 10 rebounds.
“We rebounded the ball much better,” said LSU head coach Sue Gunter. “It’s been a long time since we’ve outrebounded a team and we just have to be able to rebound more consistently. It is one thing to have three people in double figures rebounding for one game, but we need to be able to do that on a consistent basis.”
Smith, LSU’s 6-2 junior center, led the Lady Tigers through a cold-shooting first half and ultimately scored 19 points with 11 rebounds on 8-of-15 shooting. Smith provided LSU’s only offensive force in the half, as the Lady Tigers couldn’t buy a basket in transition nor set offense in the first half.
“In the first half, they did a nice job,” said LSU head coach Sue Gunter. “I don’t want to take anything away from them, but we didn’t shoot the ball well. I think that we did a much better job defensively in the second half. When we play well defensively, it allows us to go out and get some baskets in transition like we did in the second half.”
The Lady Tigers bounced back to put up 51 points in the second half that included a 22-2 run midway through. Hodges had 10 points and 15 rebounds, while Tardy completed her double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Patty Hanten came off the bench to hit three pointers and score 10 points.
LSU finished the game shooting only 36.8 percent (28 of 76), while Louisiana-Lafayette was worse at 31.1 percent (19 of 61).
Although Louisiana-Lafayette never led in the first half, it trailed by only two, 22-20, on a layup by Richey with 5:12 to play in the half.
However, the Lady Tigers were able to score three baskets and add two free throws in the next three minutes to push the lead to its largest of the game.
LSU led 30-20 at halftime.
The Lady Tigers extended the lead to 16 points, 38-22, on a four straight free throws by Smith and Tardy. With 13:30 remaining, Smith then banked a seven footer in the lane to put LSU up 47-30.
Point-by-point, LSU continued to distance itself from the Ragin’ Cajuns despite continued poor overall shooting. Kisha James’ points off free throws at the 10:01 mark gave LSU a 55-35 lead. A three-point play by Scholanda Dorrell and a layup by Smith extended LSU’s run to 14-0 over a four-minute stretch and gave LSU a 62-35 lead with 7:54 to play.
Hanten’s pair of three pointers with just under five minutes to play capped the 22-2 run and gave LSU a 71-37 lead.
After a 12-day break for dead week and fall semester finals, LSU returns to action on Dec. 16 when they play host to nationally ranked Michigan at 2 p.m. in the Maravich Assembly Center.