NASHVILLE, Tenn. — It took about 10 minutes for the LSU women’s basketball team to shake off a little rust. When they did, the Lady Tigers looked like a well-oiled machine that tore through No. 16 seed Florida Atlantic, 72-48, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
After trailing 14-13 10 minutes into the contest, LSU went on a 38-7 run over a 16-minute span to lead 52-20 early in the second half.
Seimone Augustus again led the way for the Lady Tigers, scoring 22 points on 10-of-17 shooting. Sylvia Fowles added 15 including nine early in the second half as LSU pulled away.
Augustus also broke a four-way tie for the NCAA career double-figure scoring games record, posting her 128th. Baylor’s Sophia Young, one of the four, has an opportunity to re-tie Augustus in the Lady Bears’ first-round NCAA Tournament game on Saturday.
Quianna Chaney came off the bench to hit 6-of-11 shots and score 13 points for LSU, while sophomore forward Ashley Thomas had eight points and a career-high 13 rebounds.
It was the LSU defensive effort that stemmed the rally, however, as 17 of Florida Atlantic’s 25 turnovers came of LSU steals. LSU had 20 fast-break points.
Florida Atlantic (20-11), making its first appearance in the NCAA Division I Women’s Tournament, shot only 20.6 percent from the field (17 of 60). Forward Demina Anderson led the Owls with 17 points, making seven of FAU’s 17 baskets.
LSU was able to hold Owls leading scorer Shontavia Williams to eight points on 3-of-9 shooting, more than eight below her average.
The Lady Tigers (28-3) advance to face No. 9-seeded Washington in the second round here at Vanderbilt’s Memorial Gymnasium on Monday evening. The time of the game has yet to be announced, but will be either 6 or 8:30 p.m. CT.
Washington (19-10) overtook No. 8 seed Minnesota (19-10) in the first game of the morning session, winning their first tournament game since 2001, 73-69.
The teams struggled to shake off two weeks away from competition, as both the Lady Tigers and Owls started 2-of-6 from the field with four turnovers before the first media timeout at 15:46.
After trailing by one midway through the first half, LSU scored six points in less than 20 seconds to take a five-points lead at the 9:02 mark and force a timeout.
The Lady Tigers continued to accelerate the pace on both ends of the court, turning rebounds and steals into layups and capping an 18-0 run with a smooth move to the goal by Augustus.
During the binge, nearly 10 minutes elapsed between FAU layups by Anderson while Augustus poured in 12 of her 16 first-half points.
LSU led 35-18 at the break, but the Lady Tigers weren’t satisfied.
Fowles scored nine points to bolster a 17-2 LSU run to start the second half, giving the Lady Tigers a 52-20 lead with 14:22 to play.
The defensive pressure didn’t stop there, as LSU scored six more points in transition after an Anderson layup that pushed the lead to 58-22 with 12:47 left.
With its starters on the bench, LSU allowed Florida Atlantic to go on an 8-2 run and cut the lead under 30, 66-39.
LSU (Lady Tigers) Quotes:
Head Coach Pokey Chatman
It is a system thing. It is an Erica White thing. She understand that shot is early there in the shot clock, it is going to me there in the middle of the shot clock and it is going to be there in the end. Erica is smart enough to figure out to get the ball in the basket. She understands who is playing along beside her, who is inside, and a lot of credit goes to her because it can be trying at times. I am glad that she understands how important that is. Yes, I do have the confidence in her that the shot will be there.
On LSU’s 20-point run:
Seimone can create opportunities for herself and she understands how to get opportunities through our system. She is also smart enough to understand that we did not do it for long stretches at a time today. A 20-0 run sounds good.
I am not complaining about it. There are certain things you want to do offensively, because you have a 6’6″ center in Sylvia Fowles and you have Seimone Augustus. If you don’t do those things, it will catch up to you. The bottom line is, the points you play on your schedule all year long prepare you for this time at tournament, in terms of if you are playing size, speed, zone, jump defense, man, press, half court. It doesn’t matter. You can control a huge portion of it.
On Ashley Thomas:
I love Ashley Thomas. She is a blue-collar worker every single day. It is not often that we get to talk about her. That kind of play that is infectious. That is the kind of play is gets you over the top. That is the kind of play that every single player is capable of.
On Quianna Chaney:
She did a good job defensively. She ran the floor. The big picture is if you are not careful and you don’t play those first six minutes of the game the way you are capable of playing, you can dig yourself a hole.
Seimone Augustus
We expect every team to be scrapping regardless of what our seed is. This is the NCAA Tournament and you’re playing for something that’s a big deal. You’re trying to get that national championship. We expect each round to increase the level of intensity. The competitive nature of each game will increase. We just have to be ready to match that intensity and focus on that particular team that you are playing.
The first 10 minutes of the first half, we were not at our best. We were stagnant, standing around on defense and didn’t get after it like we wanted to. But once we went into halftime, and coach gave her speech, we began to lock in. Our motto coming out of the locker room at halftime and for the starting five to come out and set the tempo in the first five minutes of the second half.
Sylvia Fowles
We were not mentally focused in the second half. After coach talked to us and we listened to what she had to say, we took it and ran with it in the second half.
On the 20-0 run in the first half:
We weren’t playing LSU basketball in the first half. We were just rushing and being undisciplined. It didn’t feel like a 20-0 run, but we knew we had to improve and work on it.
Florida Atlantic University (Owls) Quotes
Head Coach Chancellor Dugan
“If we could have stopped the game there at the 10-minute mark, it would have been good. LSU is a very, very good team. They are very long. I thought we competed with them, but that 20-0 run really hurt us. They got a lot of baskets off of our turnovers in transition. You can’t really shoot 28 percent and have 25 turnovers against probably the No 2. or No. 3 team in the nation and expect to come out with the victory.
Our team really did a lot this year in adverse situations. I was proud of them. They stuck in there and fought to the end.
I thought we really battled and did a nice job out there. I told the girls in the locker room I said, ?we had them on their heels and we let them come back.’ I was really proud of how we played and how we were playing defense and moving the ball. I thought we really gave them everything that they probably weren’t expecting, but everything that we’re all about.
A lot of it had to do with the inexperience of playing on such a big stage and in such an important game. Once you go through it you know what to expect. Nobody really knew what to expect and what to do when things went wrong. I told them in the locker room this is a learning point for us but to make sure that we all stay together because we all win together and we all lose together.
50 Demina Anderson ? F:
On playing against Seimone Augustus:
I expected her to be a very tough player to compete against. She is very good. She is very athletic. But I know we have a very good team. We came into the mindset that we are going to play our game and play hard.
On the feeling in the Florida Atlantic locker room:
I was pumped and I was ready in the locker room. I knew we were going up against a 6-6 girl and she was playing my position. I was ready to battle.
POSTGAME GAME NOTES
Final Score: LSU 72, FAU 48
Game Trends
(1) LSU will face (9) Washington Monday night.
This is the second meeting between these two schools. LSU leads the all-time series 2-0. The last meeting occurred in 2002, with LSU winning 88-55 on 11/25/02.
The Tigers went on a 20-0 run over an 8-minute stretch in the first half, climbing to a 33-14 lead. FAU turned the ball over six times during the run and were 0-12 from the floor. FAU broke the run with a Demina Anderson lay-up at 2:33 to go in the half. LSU led in points off turnovers, 13-4, at the conclusion of the stanza. The Tigers out-shot the Owls 44 percent to 21percent in the first half, recording a 35-18 lead at the break.
LSU opened the second half with a 23-4 run over the first seven minutes to increase the lead to 58-22 with 13:18 to go in the second half. FAU committed eight turnovers during the first seven minutes of the half.
LSU Game Notes
LSU is 9-2 in first round games and 8-2 in all games as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. This is the eighth straight appearance for LSU in the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers own a 25-15 all-time record.
Seimone Augustus had 22 points tonight, becoming the all-time leader in NCAA women’s basketball history with 128 games scoring in double figures. She surpassed Jackie Stiles (Missouri State), Sophia Young (Baylor) and Alana Beard (Duke), all of whom had 127. Augustus had 16 points in the first half.
Augustus’ 17 field goals attempted moves her into seventh place all-time in the SEC and 2nd place all-time at LSU with 2005 career field goals attempted (she surpassed LSU’s Julie Gross, who had 1996, on both charts). She also now ranks second in points by a senior at LSU with 711 (Joyce Walker ranks first with 794).
Ashley Thomas‘ 13 rebounds are a career high (previous was 10 versus Ole Miss on 3/3/06). She had nine rebounds in the first stanza.
LSU recorded 17 steals in today’s contest, the most in the NCAA Tournament for LSU. Their previous high was 16 versus Liberty on 3/26/05. LSU also forced 25 FAU turnovers, tying their NCAA Tournament high (last versus Louisiana Tech 3/30/03).
LSU went 0-7 from the three point line today. This was the fourth time this season LSU has failed to record a 3-point bucket (last time was 0-1 vs. Arkansas, 2/19/06).
The Tigers are 25-1 when leading at the half this season.
FAU Game Notes
The Owls are appearing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time as a Division I school after achieving their first Atlantic Sun Conference title.
Demina Anderson’s 17 points is a career high. Her previous career high was 15 points vs. Gardner-Webb on 1/28/06. Anderson’s seven field goals made are a career high (previous high was 5, accomplished 3 times, last versus Stetson on 1/7/06). Her 14 field goals attempted is a career high.
FAU was held to 48 points, a season low. Their previous low was 50 points versus Belmont on 1/19/06. The 48 points was the fewest by FAU since scoring 45 points versus Gardner-Webb on 2/19/05. FAU’s 18 points in the first half tied the lowest of the season (18 at Birmingham-Southern on 11/25/05).
The Owls tied a season-low with 17 field goals made in today’s game (last 3/10/06 vs. Mercer). This was a result of a season-low 28.3 percent field goal shooting. Their previous low was 29.4 percent at Jacksonville on 2/16/06.