GAINESVILLE, Fla. — LSU’s Lady Tigers basketball team, ranked No. 3/2 in the nation, used solid defense and 18 points from Seimone Augustus to get past Florida, 64-47, in Southeastern Conference action on Thursday night in the O’Connell Center.
LSU (15-1, 2-0 SEC) held Florida (11-5, 2-1 SEC) to just 28.6 percent shooting from the floor in the game and forced 24 turnovers that led to 19 Lady Tigers’ points.
“It was by no means a pretty win, but we will take it,” LSU head coach Pokey Chatman said. “Both teams played extremely hard defensively. Our leading scorer was our points off of turnovers and against a good Florida team that is exactly what we needed to come out of here with a victory.”
The Gators jumped out to an early 5-0 lead before LSU used an 8-0 run to take the lead and never look back. The Lady Tigers took the lead, 6-5, on a Sylvia Fowles’ layup with 15:01 left in the first half. Florida then got a close as four, 17-13, before LSU led 25-18 at the break.
The Lady Tigers then led by double digits early the second half before Florida cut the lead down to five with 11:17 left to play. LSU then used a 12-5 run to pull away for good.
Augustus scored 12 of her 18 points in the second half, a half that saw LSU shoot 43.8 percent from the floor. Fowles finished the game with 14 points and seven rebounds, while Quianna Chaney added 12 points on four three-pointers and Temeka Johnson had nine points and nine assists.
Tamia Williams led the Gators with 15 points, while Tishona Gregory added 12 points.
Florida, who dominated the boards in the first half, leading 25-10 in that category, finished the game with a nine rebounding margin, 43-34, led by Bernice Mosby’s 15.
The Lady Tigers return home for a mini two-game home stand beginning with Alabama on Sunday at 2 p.m. CST at the Maravich Center.
GAME NOTES
- Seimone Augustus collected her 42nd straight double figure scoring game, breaking LSU’s record of 41 straight held by Cornelia Gayden.
- Temeka Johnson moved into sole possession of sixth-place in career starts at LSU.
- LSU improved to 2-0 in the SEC for the third straight season.
- Seimone Augustus became the 10th player in LSU history to reach 1,500 points. She now has 1,508.