LEXINGTON, Ky. — Doneeka Hodges led four Lady Tigers in double figures and Aiysha Smith dominated the final 10 minutes of the game as the LSU women’s basketball team improved to 4-2 in Southeastern Conference play with a 75-59 victory over Kentucky on Thursday night in Memorial Coliseum.
LSU (11-6, 4-2 SEC) improved to 7-0 on the season when shooting better than 50 percent from the field, as the Lady Tigers made 29-of-53 field goals (54.7 percent) including 6-of-11 from three-point range.
Doneeka Hodges had five of those including four in the first half to lead LSU with 17 points, while Smith and Roneeka Hodges each added 16 points. Point guard Temeka Johnson was 4-of-4 from the field and had five free throws for 13 points, while matching her season average with eight assists. Twenty-three of LSU’s 29 baskets were assisted.
Although out-rebounded by the Wildcats, 29-22, Smith grabbed nine boards to lead LSU.
Kentucky (8-11, 1-6 SEC) lost its fifth consecutive game in league play, as leading scorer SeSe Helm (17.4 ppg) was held to 10 points on 5-of-12 shooting. Sophomore Shambrica Jones scored 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting to lead Kentucky, while Rita Adams was also in double figures with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Kentucky was 25-of-53 from the field for 47.2 percent.
Kentucky, which led the SEC in turnovers per game with 21.8, committed 20 in the game while LSU was below its season average of 14.8 (second in the SEC) with only 12.
As both teams came out in 2-3 zone defenses, the Lady Tigers attacked from the outside while the Wildcats tried to work the ball into leading scorer SeSe Helm, who a 6-4 was the tallest player on the court. LSU used three-pointers by Doneeka and Roneeka Hodges to take a 6-2 lead before Tardy hit a 14-footer with 17:42 on the clock to give LSU an early six-point lead, 8-2.
Up 10-6 at the first media timeout at 15:40, LSU’s switch to a man-to-man defense proved costly against the Wildcats, as Kentucky came back to tie the game using cuts the basket and second-chance baskets by Jones. Jones scored 10 of Kentucky’s first 16 points including six straight before Gunter took a 30-second timeout to settle the Lady Tigers.
Kentucky took its first lead, 18-16, on a pair of free throws by Rita Adams, the team’s second-leading scorer at 11.3 ppg.
When Kentucky moved into a 3-2 zone to combat LSU’s four-guard offense, the Lady Tigers responded by working the ball around for two Doneeka Hodges three pointers from the right wing to take a 22-18 lead and force a Wildcat timeout.
A quick 13 minutes of play saw the teams combined to shoot nearly 50 percent from the field and commit only three fouls and seven turnovers. LSU started the game 9-of-18 — including 4-of-7 from behind the arc — while Kentucky was 8-of-19.
The teams traded baskets over the next three minutes until LSU was able to gain a six-point advantage on a turn-around jumper by Smith with 2:55 to play in the half. However, Kentucky answered with the game’s next four points when LSU misses several layups and put backs while getting beat 1-on-1 in man-to-man defense.
Coming out of the final media timeout at the 1:50 mark, Scholanda Dorrell made LSU’s first free throw attempts of the game with 1:08 remaining in the half before forcing Kentucky into a turnover with the shot clock nearing zero. Smith’s outlet pass to Doneeka Hodges led to a layup and a 35-29 lead with under 30 seconds to play.
LSU had yet another break away, but this time Hodges traveled and gave the ball back to Kentucky, which converted the opportunity into a layup as time expired. Instead of being up by eight, the Lady Tigers led 35-31 at the half.
LSU made 14-of-28 first-half shots (50 percent) with five three pointers, while Kentucky was 14-of-29 for 48.3 percent. The Lady Tigers were out-rebounded, 18-11, but committed only six turnovers in the swiftly moving first 20 minutes. Doneeka Hodges’ 4-of-4 from behind the three-point arc was the difference in the game.
To start the second half, the Lady Tigers scored the first six points against Kentucky’s 2-3 match-up zone defense and increased the lead to 41-31 with 17:40 remaining.
Despite making only 3-of-8 shots in the first four minutes, LSU made up for its efforts on the defensive end. Kentucky missed its first four shots from the field and committed a pair of turnovers before making its first field goal of the half at the 16:03 mark.
LSU increased the lead to 12 on a three-point play by Roneeka Hodges with 11:59 remaining in the game. Hodges received a perfectly executed bounce pass from Johnson in transition and made the layup going into the media timeout.
Meanwhile, Kentucky continued to try to dump the ball into Helm in the post to keep the game close. Her jumper from 10 feet with 8:46 to play cut the lead to 53-46, however, Doneeka Hodges answered with her fifth trey on the other end to go up by 10 once again.
The Lady Tigers led by 14, 64-50, on a layup by Smith with less than seven minutes to play, however, Kentucky again cut into the lead by using Helm’s size underneath.
The leading free-throw shooting team in the SEC at 78.2 percent in league games, LSU went into the bonus with 7:45 to play and made 6-of-6 free throws down the stretch.
Ahead by nine, Smith scored her eight straight points under the basket and Johnson hit a pair of free throws to give the Lady Tigers a 72-53 lead with 2:37 remaining in the game.
The Lady Tigers return to action on Sunday, Jan. 27, in the sixth-annual Pack the PMAC game against fifth-ranked Vanderbilt in Baton Rouge. The contest begins at 4 p.m. CST and free tickets to the game can be printed from the homepage of www.lsusports.net.