BATON ROUGE — Freshman center Sylvia Fowles scored 18 points and pulled down 11 rebounds off the bench Thursday night to lead top-ranked LSU to a 78-38 victory over Texas State in the Maravich Center.
The undefeated Lady Tigers (12-0) play host to Tulane at 2 p.m. Sunday in the Maravich Center. Texas State (3-8) opens Southland Conference play Jan. 6 at McNeese State.
Thursday’s contest, LSU’s first home game since Nov. 30, was played before a crowd of 4,921, the Lady Tigers’ second-largest Maravich Center attendance figure this season.
LSU, playing for the first time since a 72-52 win Dec. 21 at Cal-Santa Barbara, bolted to a 13-0 lead in the opening minutes Thursday and extended the advantage to 44-21 by halftime.
“We talked as a coaching staff about picking up where we left off,” said LSU coach Pokey Chatman, “and the kids came out from the very first possession and established an energy. What really pleased me early on was that we had an array of (lineup) combinations and the energy was still there.
“For the most part, we executed. We got to the free throw line 24 times (converting 14), but we didn’t quite finish a lot of them. However, we’re making progress.”
The Lady Tigers led by as many as 42 points in the second half.
Fowles, one of three Lady Tigers in double figures, shot 9-of-12 from the field to finish as the game’s high scorer. The freshman from Miami added a game-best 11 boards and blocked two shots in just 16 minutes of action.
LSU all-American guard Seimone Augustus added 13 points and three rebounds in 20 minutes, while point guard Temeka Johnson contributed 13 points, three rebounds and six steals in 17 minutes of play.
Texas State center Tori Talbert led the Bobcats with nine points and six rebounds.
The Lady Tigers shot 45.6 percent (31-for-68) from the field, while limiting the Bobcats to just 26 percent (13-for-50) shooting from the floor. LSU forced 25 Texas State turnovers and collected 16 steals.