BATON ROUGE — By the time the NBC hit TV show Friends ended, the score was only 3-2 and 13:27 remained in the first half. However, by the time Survivor was over some 30 minutes later, LSU had booted the Lady Gators off the island with a first-half explosion. By the start of ER, LSU blown out the 15th-ranked Lady Gators, 84-59, on Thursday night in the Maravich Assembly Center.
LSU (8-5, 1-1 SEC) began the game only 1-of-12 from the field, but finished the first half 14-of-30 for 46.7 percent. On the other hand, Florida (11-5, 1-2 SEC) started frigid and ended the half cold, as the Lady Gators finished 8-of-33 from the field for 24.2 percent. LSU shot 44.1 percent in the second half to finish at 45.3 percent (29 of 64) for the game, while Florida finished the game at 30.9 percent (25 of 81).
A 15-0 LSU run over a four-minute span in the first half distanced the teams, as the Lady Tigers withstood everything Florida could throw at them. However, it was LSU’s defensive game plan and execution against the Lady Gators that stole the show.
Doneeka Hodges led LSU with a career-high 29 points on 10-of-17 shooting, while Scholanda Dorrell had 13, Aiysha Smith added 12 and Ke-Ke Tardy scored 10. Roneeka Hodges had seven while Patty Hanten added two late treys to score six.
Temeka Johnson tied former Lady Tiger Brenda McGuffee (Feb. 5, 1977, vs. Alabama) with a school-record 14 assists to pace the Lady Tigers offense.
Florida was led by Tara Taylor who had 23 and Vanessa Hayden who had 16 and 16 rebounds.
Although the Lady Tigers struggled to convert early on 1-of-10 shooting, the game was tied at 2-2 after the first media timeout at 15:42. Florida made only 1-of-6 shots and had four turnovers in the first five minutes.
LSU took its first lead on the game’s fifth point, 3-2, with 13:26 remaining in the half when Scholanda Dorrell converted 1-of-2 field goals.
At the 12-minute mark, the teams combined to have more turnovers, field goal attempts and fouls than combined points, as the Lady Tigers and Lady Gators were 2-of-22 from the field for 9.1 percent.
LSU took a 13-6 lead on layups by Smith and Dorrell and a three pointer from the left wing by Doneeka Hodges with just under 10 minutes to play in the first half. Doneeka Hodges then came up with a steal at half court and made a layup to finish a 9-0 run.
After Florida answered with a basket out of a timeout, Hodges hit yet another three from the right wing to give LSU a 18-8 lead.
The lead moved to 14, 24-10, on an easy layup by Smith off a pass from Ke-Ke Tardy and a free throw by Dorrell with 6:46 to play in the half.
With her team’s 10th basket in 14 attempts, Roneeka Hodges scored her first points of the game with a three-pointer to give LSU a 29-10 lead with 4:40 remaining in the half. Tardy followed with a jumper in the lane to extend the lead to 21. Meanwhile, Florida’s struggles from the field continued, as the Lady Gators made only 5-of-25 shots.
LSU’s 15-0 run over a four-minute stretch was ended on Tara Taylor layup with 4:08 to play in the half. Temeka Johnson pulled up a hit a 15-foot jumper with 0:03 remaining to give LSU a 38-17 halftime lead.
To open the second half, Florida cut the lead to 17, 44-27, before answering with a driving layup by Doneeka Hodges with 16:40 to play in the game. With 14:34 left to play, Hodges converted a three-point play to extend the lead to 54-30.
The wheels began to fall off for the Lady Gators with 12:42 to play when starting guard Tishona Gregory fouled out and LSU led 62-35.
Florida again cut into the lead at 64-43 with 7:26 left to play.