SAN ANTONIO, Texas — LSU’s ninth-ranked women’s basketball opened the second half with a 28-0 run to pull away from Tulsa in a 61-37 victory on Friday evening in the first game of the University of Texas-San Antonio (UTSA) Thanksgiving Classic in UTSA’s Convocation Center.
The Lady Tigers (6-1) led Tulsa (2-2) 23-14 at halftime after using a 15-2 run midway into the first half. LSU then used their second-half scoring surge to pull away. The Golden Hurricane did not score for the first 9:30 of the second half and when they did, trailed 51-16.
“I just challenged the players in the locker room at halftime and we’ll leave it at that,” LSU head coach Pokey Chatman said. “They came back out and got it done in the first nine minutes of the second half.”
It was a tale of two halves for LSU. The Lady Tigers shot 37.5 percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes and lost the rebound battle, 21-13. In the second half, LSU shot 48.3 percent from the floor and won the rebound column 23-14.
For the game, the Lady Tigers shot 43.4 percent and outrebounded Tulsa 36-35.
“I was really concerned about us playing well in some areas that we have struggled with,” Chatman added. “I was concerned with our mental focus, being able to execute the game plan and our lack of board work down in Waco against Baylor. Tonight we barely won the battle of the boards. But, there are some positives to build on and that is all you can ask for.”
RaShonta LeBlanc led the way for LSU with a career-high 15 points, while Erica White added seven and Quianna Chaney and Kristen Morris each had six.
Tulsa did not have a player reach double figures in scoring and were led by Jamie Dreiling with seven off the bench.
LSU’s three-point shooting improved in the victory. The Lady Tigers entered the game just 14-65 (21.5 percent), but connected on 7-13 against Tulsa. LeBlanc was 3-4 from long range and Chaney hit 2 of 5.
Defensively, LSU held Tulsa to 27.9 percent (12-43) from the floor, forced 37 turnovers and collected 23 steals. White led the way with a career-high six steals.
The Lady Tigers will face Eastern Washington on Saturday at 2 p.m. CST in the second and final day of the UTSA Thanksgiving Classic in the Convocation Center.
GAME NOTES
– RaShonta LeBlanc‘s 15 points were a career-high. Her previous high was 11 earlier in the year against West Virginia.
– Erica White collected a career-best six steals.
– LSU forced 37 turnovers, the most since Alabama had 30 on Feb. 23, 2006.
– LSU collected 23 steals, the most since getting 21 against New Orleans on Dec. 12, 2005. The 23 were four shy of the school record of 27 set vs. Southern Miss on Nov. 21, 2004.