BATON ROUGE — LSU sophomore center Sylvia Fowles posted 21 points and 11 rebounds to lead the third-ranked Lady Tigers to the second-biggest victory in school history, 107-39, over cross-town rival Southern University on Tuesday.
“Overall I’m extremely pleased with the effort on both ends of the floor,” LSU head coach Pokey Chatman said. “We went in at halftime and talked to the kids about maintaining that same level of intensity, but also that same level of execution. I thought from players one through 12 that we did a good job of that.”
A Maravich Center paid crowd of 4,358 watched LSU (2-0) tally its most points in nearly 10 years. LSU scored 108 against Nicholls State on Nov. 29, 1995.
Fowles, who played only 19 minutes in the romp, was 9-of-14 from the field and added three steals.
Reserve point guard Erica White saw most of the action in the second half, and led four other Lady Tigers in double figures scoring with 14. Reserves Ashley Thomas and Quianna Chaney each had 12, while All-American Seimone Augustus scored 10 points in 20 minutes.
Overall, LSU’s bench scored 59 points.
“That gives our kids huge confidence,” Chatman added. “That is what we need to carry us through the season.”
The Lady Tigers hit 54.5 percent of their shots (40 of 67) and were outstanding at the free throw line at 89.7 percent (26 of 29).
LSU’s pressure spanned the length of the court, forcing 34 Jaguars turnovers while earning 23 steals. The Lady Tigers scored 50 points off turnovers.
All three of LSU’s point guards — starter RaShonta LaBlanc, White and Khalilah Mitchell — recorded five assists and had a total of one turnover between them.
Southern was led by guard Ronalda Monroe with 11 points on 3-of-17 shooting. Reserve center Fredreika Lewis was the only other Jaguar in double figures scoring with 10 points. She led the team with five rebonds.
LSU dominated the paint, scoring 60 points. The Lady Tigers’ fast breaks also led to 24 points.
On Wednesday, LSU will travel to Miami, Fla., for the Miami Thanksgiving Classic which begins on Friday. LSU takes on Nebraska at noon CST on Friday at Ransom Everglades High School before facing Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 11 a.m. CST on Saturday.
Both games can be heard live in the Geaux Zone on LSUsports.net, or in the Baton Rouge area on 107.3 FM.
LSU Head Coach Pokey Chatman
Opening Statement…
“Overall I’m extremely pleased with the effort on both ends of the floor. We went in at halftime and talked to the kids about maintaining that same level of intensity, but also that same level of execution. I thought from players one through 12 that we did a good job of that. We did a pretty good job of taking care of the basketball. I think we had one (turnover) at halftime and 10 total. We did a good job in the half court defensively against one of the top-10 scorers in the nation last year in (Rolanda) Monroe. You sort of get a little antsy and it’s difficult to be disciplined in your defense. But I thought our kids did a great job. We only committed 12 team fouls, and that’s something that’s always good to see because we’re going to face a lot of competition that’s similar to that. So overall I’m pleased with the effort, and it’s a step in the right direction.”
On honoring Seimone Augustus before the game…
“She was embarrassed. It was typical Seimone. And that’s what you love about Seimone, everybody’s All-American. She’s so humble. It’s something we didn’t want to tell her about too far in advance because she’s such a consummate team player. I thought it was fitting for the home-opener, obviously. It was a Southern and LSU match-up with the entire Baton Rouge community here. (It was important for) he relationship that she has with not just our team and our fans, but the community as a whole. It was just another opportunity for us to pat Seimone on the back for a job well done to this point.”
On the guard play thus far…
“There were five assists and one turnover for all three of those who played a little bit of point for us tonight. It’s always been there, it’s just nice to see. All three of those kids bring something different to the table, and tonight it was all positive. What I really liked was the fact that they all got us out in transition. That’s something that’s been absent the last few days in practice. All three were looking to get the ball up and advance the basketball and take charge. That’s something that we wanted them to do, and all three did a good job tonight.”
LSU PLAYER QUOTES:
Center Sylvia Fowles
On the way the team played defense…
“I think we played better on defense. Everybody stepped up tonight, even our players that didn’t get much playing time. I think overall our coaches were happy with our defense.”
On running the floor a lot during the game…
“That was one of our plans during some of our film sessions. Coach told us one of their weaknesses was running up the floor so our game plan was trying to get up the floor as much as possible.”
Forward Ashley Thomas
On the team’s bench play…
“I think every day (in practice) we play against the best players in the country, so it’s not hard for us to come out and play. I think everybody did their part tonight and stepped up.”
Southern Head Coach Sandy Pugh
Opening Statement
“They are just too athletic for us. Sylvia (Fowles), we knew that we did not have a match up for her. She just dominated the game, exploited our other weakness which was the point guard early on. I thought that we had a lot of turnovers trying to get the ball across half court, they kind of rattled us a little bit when we removed Roe (Rolanda Monroe) from the point, she created some turnovers for us trying to do too much. We never really got settled in to our offensive scheme, not until the second half till we were able to get the ball down and do something positive with it. I thought that was a big problem. Their athleticism was just over, over the top for us.”
On the LSU defense…
“The little run and jump that they were doing, it should have been something that if you have a good point guard that should have been routine to handle and get the ball down and take care of the basketball and kick it to the open players. We were unable to do that and get the ball up in the open court. And I am telling you their athleticism is just incredible. Some of those kids from that team, they could probably play with our men’s team. They are so athletic, I mean so quick, jump well, strong, very impressive.”