BATON ROUGE — All 12 Lady Tigers who dressed against the Alabama Crimson Tide scored, as the No. 4-ranked LSU women’s basketball team dominated from the start to win its sixth straight game on Thursday night in the Maravich Assembly Center, 85-43.
LSU (21-1, 9-1 SEC) made nearly 48 percent of its first goals while holding Alabama (11-12, 1-9 SEC) to just 29.1 percent including 0-of-9 from three-point range.
The Lady Tigers, who were led by freshman Seimone Augustus’ 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting in only 17 minutes, forced 22 turnovers and converted those into 28 points while committing only eight of their own.
Forward Ke-Ke Tardy made all five of her free throws to scored 11 points, and center Aiysha Smith added 10. Starters Doneeka Hodges and Temeka Johnson had eight and seven points, respectively, as no Lady Tiger played more than 26 minutes.
Alabama forward Natasha Gamble made all eight free throw attempts and 4-of-9 field goals to lead two Crimson Tide in double figures scoring with 16. Former Lady Tiger center Jamilah Johns added 10 points on 5-of-13 shooting.
In the first half, the Lady Tigers scored 23 points of 16 Alabama turnovers to take a 44-16 halftime lead. Augustus, Johnson and Smith each scored eight points and combined to make 10-of-17 shots from the field.
The Lady Tigers ran out to a 14-2 lead only five minutes into the contest, as all five starters contributed at least two points. The lead extended to 27-4 on a layup by Augustus with 9:32 left in the half.
Alabama got as close as 19, 33-14, on a layup by Gamble, however, the Lady Tigers went on an 11-2 run over the final 5:26 to lead by 28 at the break.
LSU, which ranked third in the nation in scoring margin (24.0 ppg) and scoring defense (52.9 ppg), held Alabama to its lowest first-half point total of the season, tying a 16-point effort at then-No. 16 Vanderbilt one week ago (trailed 34-16, lost 80-69).
The Lady Tigers used mostly reserves with scattered starters throughout the second half to slowly build the lead to 44 near the end of the game.
The Crimson Tide shot only 27.6 percent in the half (8-of-29), while LSU was 12 of 29 for 41.1 percent. Of LSU’s 33 bench points, shooting guard Patty Hanten scored eight points with a pair of three-pointers, while point guard Kisha James was good for six points and three assists. Roneeka Hodges also added nine points and three assists in 21 minutes of action.
The Lady Tigers return to action on Saturday when they complete their non-conference action against UC-Santa Barbara at 2 p.m. CST in the PMAC.