BATON ROUGE — LSU’s 17th-ranked Lady Tigers basketball team led the entire game enroute to a 70-59 victory to open Southeastern Conference play on Sunday in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
LSU (13-2, 1-0 SEC), who played the game with the absence of head coach Sue Gunter due to illness, jumped out to an early 6-0 lead and Auburn (12-3, 0-1 SEC) never got any closer than 7-5. The Lady Tigers led 33-28 at the break and had as much as an18-point lead midway through the second half after opening the final 20 minutes on an 11-2 run.
“There’s always something missing, but the credit goes to coach Gunter and how she runs the program,” LSU Associate coach Pokey Chatman said. “These kids just stepped up and played well. The best thing, in terms of helping coach, is just coming away with a win.”
Doneeka Hodges led the way with 20 points, while Hanna Biernacka added a career-high 14 points, Seimone Augustus had 13 points and Temeka Johnson collected 11 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds.
LSU, winners of 12 straight games, out rebounded Auburn, the nation’s top rebounding team, 42-29, and were led by Tillie Willis’ 10 boards. The Lady Tigers also shot 47.7 percent from the floor and held Auburn to 38.2 percent and forced 17 turnovers.
Louise Emeagi led the Tigers with 15 points and Le’Coe Willingham added 11 points.
LSU will host Florida in a SEC battle on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Maravich Center.