BATON ROUGE — LSU used a 12-0 run midway through the second half to break open a tight game as the third-ranked Lady Tigers extended their school-record conference winning streak to 24 straight with a 68-61 win over 13th-ranked Georgia here before 8,480 at the Maravich Center.
With the win, LSU improved to 22-1 overall and remained perfect in the Southeastern Conference with a 10-0 league record. Georgia dropped to 17-6 overall and 7-3 in league play with the loss.
Seimone Augustus scored in double-figures for the 85th consecutive game, leading four Lady Tigers in double-digits with 17 points. Sylvia Fowles added 15 points and nine rebounds for LSU, while Erica White had 12 points and 10 assists and Florence Williams came of the bench to add 11 in the victory.
Georgia was paced by Tasha Humphrey’s 18 points and nine rebounds. Humphrey’s connected on 4-of-9 3-pointers for the Lady Bulldogs. She was also one four Georgia players to play the entire contest as the Lady Bulldogs only had six players see action in the contest.
“I thought our ability to start the game and establish ourselves offensively was huge,” LSU coach Pokey Chatman said. “When you look at the final stats and you shoot almost 54 percent against a team like Georgia, a team that is going to challenge you because of their size, speed and quickness, it’s a tribute to our team staying true to the script.
“Our defense really stepped up in a big way tonight. I thought our kids showed a lot of mental toughness, in terms of not getting rattled when Tasha (Humphrey) stepped away from the basket and hit some threes.”
The teams played even for most of the first half as there were 11 lead changes and six ties during the first 20 minutes of the contest. The Lady Tigers took their biggest first half lead, 21-15, on a layup by Fowles at the 8:41 mark. Georgia then responded with a 7-0, capped by a jumper by Sherrill Baker to regain the lead at 22-21 with 7:20 to go.
LSU led 34-31 at the break after Augustus scored on a layup and free throw with just over a minute left in the first stanza.
In the second half, the teams continued their back-and-forth ways for the first 10 minutes before the Lady Tigers finally made a stand. With the game tied at 46-46 following a pair of free throws by Georgia’s Megan Darrah, the Lady Tigers held the Lady Bulldogs scoreless for nearly seven minutes down the stretch to take its biggest lead up to that point, 58-46, on a layup by Augustus with just over three minutes left.
During that stretch, LSU’s Williams came off the bench to score six of the Lady Tigers’ 12 points, while also adding an assist during the span.
“You look at the final statistics and see 11 points, but it’s when and where those shots occurred,” Chatman said of Williams’ play on Sunday. “It was at crucial times in the game when the shot clock is down under 5 seconds. It’s that mentality that she brings as a fifth-year senior to the floor. It’s to not only be in position to take the shot, but to also knock them down when given the opportunity.”
LSU connected on 10 of 12 free throws, including eight straight by White, during the final 1:18 of the contest to ice the victory.
For the game, LSU connected on 53.8 percent of its shots from the field, while holding the Lady Bulldogs to just 39.3 percent. LSU outrebounded Georgia, 32-29.
LSU returns to action on Thursday when the Lady Tigers travel to Gainesville to face Florida at 6 p.m. LSU’s next home game is scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 19 against Arkansas.
HEAD COACH POKEY CHATMAN
Opening statement…
“I thought our ability to start the game and establish ourselves offensively was huge. When you look at the final stats and you shoot almost 54 percent against a team like Georgia that is going to challenge you because of their size, speed and quickness, it’s a tribute to our team staying true to the script. Our defense really stepped up in a big way tonight. I thought our kids showed a lot of mental toughness, in terms of not getting rattled when Tasha (Humphrey) stepped away from the basket and hit some threes.”
On the play of Florence Williams…
“You look at the final statistics and see 11 points, but it’s when and where those shots occurred. It was crucial time in the game when the shot clock is down under five seconds with that fifth-year-senior mentality and be in position to not only take those shots but make them.”
LSU Player Quotes
On Florence Williams…
“She did great. I think she read the defense well. I think they started to trap Sylvia (Fowles), and some times when they trapped me and she did a good job of finding the open space and knocking down the shots that were available.”
On the first 5 minutes of the second half…
“I think we got good shots in the paint where we want to get shots. I think it is just a matter of tension. I think we executed our inbounds well, as far as our offensive execution just wasn’t working at times.”
On the defensive play…
“We take a lot of pride in our defense. The saying is offense wins games, but defense wins championships. That’s they key, we want to win championships. Today, we showed them a lot of different defenses. It was our man-to-man that gave them some trouble. We took away some shooters. They got some shots off, but we wanted to make sure it was contested. We took away their drivers. They didn’t get as many drives to the basket. (Tasha) Humphrey, what can you say about her? She just does what she always does, and it was difficult for us at the time to take touches away from her because they had so many shooters on the court. Once we locked in things started to change momentum, and our fans got into it and I think that made it hard for them to run offensive sets from their coach calling them.”
Florence Williams
On being able to jump ahead…
“Momentum. We kept pushing and kept going at them. They backed off most of us which allowed myself and a few others to get open shots, and we were able to knock them down.”
On when they got behind on the scoreboard…
“We just stuck with the game plan. We had to get back and play smart, and take a few of their shooters away, take a few of their drives away. They just didn’t know what to do.”
Georgia Head Coach Andy Landers
On the second half…
“Well, I thought that we got good shots. I think that first of all, we started the second half with three good shots and we do not hit any of them. The first three shots we took, I think it was on two possessions, we actually got an offensive rebound and we brought it back out and we don’t get it, we didn’t shoot the ball well in the second half. I do know that in the second half we got some good shots and didn’t hit them, and we missed a couple lay-ups and we missed some ten and twelve footers.”
On having only one foul in the first half…
“Well, the first half I think that as much as anything, it was the product of us not going inside and doing things with the basketball that draws fouls. I have enormous respect for Sylvia (Fowles), she changes the game and thank goodness (Tasha) Humphrey can shoot the three because she changes things too. We kind of have a counter for her (Fowles) size and her athleticism and her length and all of the problems she poses inside. Consequently we didn’t draw fouls and I thought that as the game went on, as is the case for most games, there were some fouls that didn’t get called and late in the game I thought that we would get a call or two. Knowing you are playing in Baton Rouge I guess you shouldn’t think that.”