BATON ROUGE — In front of a CBS national television audience and 11,252 fans, the largest crowd to witness a women’s college basketball game in Louisiana, second-ranked LSU led from start to finish in taking an impressive 80-63 victory over 15th-rnaked Penn State on Saturday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Pack the PMAC VII.
The actual crowd of 9,798 also broke the old Louisiana women’s college basketball record of 9,636 set at Pack the PMAC V in 2001 against Auburn. The CBS telecast of the contest was LSU’s first appearance on national network television.
“It was a great day for Lady Tiger basketball,” LSU coach Sue Gunter said. “The crowd was outstanding, they were vocal, they saw a good show, and I hope they’ll come back again.”
The Lady Tigers (12-0) are now two wins away from tying the best start in school history, which was 14-0 during the 1996-97 season.
After winning seven of its first nine games against teams with losing records, LSU copped its second victory over a top-15 team within eight days. The Lady Tigers beat then-No. 15 Texas 76-58 last Saturday at the PMAC.
For the third consecutive game, LSU was led in scoring by senior center Aiysha Smith, as the 6-foot-3 Detroit native hit on 8-of-14 shots from the field for a season-high 22 points, while also grabbing a team-high nine rebounds. Smith fell just one point short of her career high that she achieved twice last year.
Seimone Augustus and KeKe Tardy each added 11 points, as nine different Lady Tiger players scored to help LSU shoot 50.8 percent from the floor for the game.”
Meanwhile, Kelly Mazzante, Penn State’s All-America guard who came in averaging 27.5 points per game, was held to just 13 points, including four in the second half. It was Mazzante’s lowest total since scoring nine last year at Michigan State. Ashli Schwab led the Lady Lions with 22 points, while Tanisha Wright added 18.
LSU’s swarming defense limited the Lady Lions to just 44.3 percent shooting from the floor, forcing Penn State point guard Jess Strom into eight of Penn State’s 19 turnovers.
“Today was about defense,” Gunter said “Temeka Johnson and Kisha James did a really superb job on Strom, keeping intense pressure on her for 40 minutes.”
The Lady Tigers took a 38-28 halftime lead on the strength of 54.8 percent shooting (17-of-31) and nine points each from Smith and Augustus.
LSU scored the first six points of the game, with Smith hitting only her fourth 3-pointer of the season to open scoring. Schwab’s layup finally got Penn State on the board after 2:35 elapsed in the contest, but the Tigers responded with a 7-2 run over the next three and a half minutes, with Smith’s jumper making it 13-4.
The lead grew to as large as 17-6 at the 12:53 mark of the half before Penn State (10-3) began to slowly cut into the lead, pulling to within 19-15 nine minutes into the contest on a 3-pointer by Jennifer Brenden.
Following Brenden’s trey, the Lady Tigers went on a 12-4 spurt over the next six minutes to take a 31-19 lead, LSU’s largest of the first half, on a layup by Augustus. The Baton Rouge native later brought the crowd to a thunderous ovation with 1:22 remaining in the first half when she hit a 27-foot jumper as the shot clock expired with Penn State All-American Mazzante in her face.
“They were tough to guard,” Penn State coach Rene Portland said. “They did a very nice job in hitting 12- to 14-foot shots, and their athletic ability is outstanding.”
LSU suffered a scare just under one minute into the second half when freshman forward Augustus, the 2002 National High School Player of the Year and a Freshman of the Year candidate this season, was helped off the court after falling hard on her right ankle. After sitting out just over four minutes and having her ankle re-taped. Augustus returned to the court after the first television timeout of the second half at the 14:56 mark.
Any doubt that remained about the game’s final outcome was removed in the first four minutes of the second half, as the Lady Tigers opened the period on a 11-5 run to open up a 49-33 lead on a Smith jumper at the 16-minute mark.
Penn State got no closer than eight points in the second half, and Mazzante was held scoreless in the first 8:45 of the period before being forced too the bench with her fourth foul. By time she scored her first points of the half, LSU held a 63-47 lead.
“LSU’s defense did a really good job and never let me get untracked,” Mazzante said. “We needed more people to step up offensively.”
LSU returns to action on Thursday at 7 p.m. when the Lady Tigers open Southeastern Conference play at Auburn. The Lady Tigers’ next home game is on January 12 against SEC rival Ole Miss. LSU will be seeking its first Southeastern Conference championship in school history after finishing fourth in the league in 2002.