NASHVILLE, Tenn. — After hanging close for the first 17 minutes, Vanderbilt pulled away from LSU as the No. 6 Commodores went on to defeat the Lady Tigers, 77-60, on the road in Memorial Coliseum on Thursday night.
The Lady Tigers (13-9, 6-5 SEC) return home to face No. 9 South Carolina on Sunday at 2 p.m. Vanderbilt improves to 22-5 overall and 8-3 in the SEC.
“There was just too much Vandy for us tonight,” said LSU head coach Sue Gunter. “Our players did what we asked until 3:34 left in the first half, then Vanderbilt started their run. Where they killed us was on the offensive boards. We stayed close to them on nearly all the other stats, but they outrebounded us offensively that led to more second chance points and that was the key difference in the game.”
Vanderbilt pulled down 14 offensive rebounds compared to just five by LSU that led to 17 second chance points.
LSU scored just nine second chance point in the contest.
Junior Aiysha Smith led a pair of Lady Tigers in double-figures scoring, tying a career high with 23 points. Temeka Johnson added 10 points.
After Chantelle Anderson and Zuzi Klimesova scored 52 of Vanderbilts 64 points in the first meeting in this year, the Commodores got a more balanced attack with three players in double figures and nine players contributing points.
Anderson led Vanderbilt with 23 points, followed by Klimesova and Jillian Danker with 14 each. Jenni Benningfield also pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds.
Vanderbilt jumped out to the early 6-0 lead with four points by Anderson before back-to-back layups by Smith cut the Commodore lead to 6-4 with 16:33 remaining in the first half.
After a 7-4 run by Vanderbilt gave the Commodores a five-point lead, 13-8, LSU countered with a 6-0 run to take its first lead of the game,14-13, on a layup by Smith with 12:48 remaining.
The Lady Tigers extended the lead to 18-13 before Danker ended a 4:36-minute drought from the field by Vanderbilt with a three-pointer from the left wing. Back-to-back shots by Battle and Klimesova gave the lead back to the Commodores, 20-18, with 8:37 remaining.
Neither team could really gain the advantage over the next three minutes, with no lead larger than two points the next four minutes.
With 5:44 remaining, Vanderbilt went on a 10-2 run that gave the Commodores the 36-26 halftime lead.
Vanderbilt continued the run into the start of the second half, outscoring LSU 4-0 before Roneeka Hodges ended the Lady Tiger slump.
After LSU was able to cut the deficit to nine points on an old-fashioned three-point play by Smith, back-to-back three-pointers by Benningfield and McElhiney gave Vanderbilt the 46-31 lead as the Commodores pulled away from that point.
With Vanderbilt leading 64-49 at the 7:37 media timeout, the Commodores went on a 11-3 run that built the lead to 75-52 with 3:35 remaining.
LSU outscored Vanderbilt 8-1 to end the game.