BATON ROUGE — LSU’s 10th-ranked women’s basketball team defeated Lake Truck, 67-39, in the final exhibition game of the season on Tuesday night in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
LSU (2-0 in exhibition games) and Lake Truck (3-6 in exhibition games) battled for most of the first half before the Lady Tigers ended the first 20 minutes with a 12-5 run to take a 32-24 lead at the break.
Lake Truck cut the lead back to six, 34-28, early in the second half before LSU rattled off an 11-2 run to take a double digit lead for good. The Lady Tigers’ largest lead was the final score, 67-39.
“This game was what we anticipated,” LSU head coach Pokey Chatman said. “I thought this game would be a tougher challenge for us (than the previous exhibition). I only give credit to the opposition for that.”
LSU committed 16 turnovers, including 12 in the first half, and shot 44.6 percent from the floor. The Lady Tigers’ defense did hold Lake Truck to 28.1 percent shooting and forced 22 turnovers.
“Our intensity was not there for long periods of time and that is what the kids need to work on,” Chatman added. “They need to have that mental focus and have to carry out what we practice and our game plan on to the court. We missed an opportunity as a team to improve tonight but they understand that and we will get back to work at it at practice tomorrow.”
Quianna Chaney led the way for LSU with 18 points, five rebounds and five assists, while Sylvia Fowles added 10 points and a game-high 12 rebounds and Ashley Thomas and Allison Hightower each had nine points.
The Lady Tigers outrebounded Lake Truck 44-36 led by Fowles 12. Thomas added nine boards.
All 12 players played at least five minutes in the game and 10 of 12 scored at least a point.
LSU opens the regular season Sunday at 2 p.m. CST against West Virginia in the opening game of the four-team three-day Basketball Travelers Classic in the Maravich Center.
LSU HEAD COACH POKEY CHATMAN
Opening statement…
“I think this game was what we anticipated. I thought this game would be a tougher challenge for us (than the previous exhibition). I only give credit to the opposition for that. Our intensity was not there for long periods of time and that is what the kids need to work at. They need to have that mental focus and have to carry out what we practice and our game plan on to the court. There are some areas we improved, specifically in the number of fouls we committed. I think we were a little more disciplined in our defensive attack, but offensively we never really got into a rhythm. We knew we were going to face a lot of zone defense and we like zone because we have had a lot of success against zone. Our kids usually lock in with their principals against zone. However, not getting into a rhythm against a zone defense is inexcusable. I think we missed an opportunity as a team to improve tonight but they understand that and we will get back to work at it at practice tomorrow.”
On if she saw what she wanted to see out of the team in the two exhibition games…
“It is one of those things where you have an opportunity to play a lot of players in a lot of different combinations, but not a lot of time to prepare for an opposing team. Sometimes you can pick and chose some of their games you want to watch tape on, but when you are playing so early in the year you just have to grab whatever is available. From that standpoint and having to make adjustments on the fly I think it went well.”
Player Interviews
On the game as a whole…
“I don’t think it was tough. We just started out a little sluggish. We needed to be more focused and ready to play. It is just something mentally that we need to lock in and focus on.”
On the season…
“We know it is along way to get where we want to be, but the coaches will get that out of us. We have to do a great job at practice as well and making ourselves better.”
On her improvement…
“I feel a lot more confident. I lost a couple of pounds, but I was able to run down the court faster. My defense as well as my offense has improved. My overall game is better.”
On the second half…
“I wasn’t making a couple of shots, but my teammates and Coach Pokey encouraged me to keep shooting so that is what I did.”