BATON ROUGE ? A 20 point and 12 rebound performance from All-American Sylvia Fowles led the sixth-ranked LSU women’s basketball team in a thrilling come-from-behind, 57-55, victory over No. 15 Georgia at Pack the PMAC XI on Sunday.
The Lady Tigers (15-1, 1-0 SEC) trailed 18-4 to Georgia (13-3, 1-1 SEC) with 11:16 left in the first half, but fought back with a 14-0 run to tie the score at 18 with just under five minutes to play in the half. The Lady Bulldogs finished the half with a 9-4 run to take a 27-22 lead at the break.
“It was frustrating at first to keep looking up at the scoreboard and seeing we only had four points,” LSU head coach Pokey Chatman said. “Then as the game went along you could feel the momentum picking up and the bottom line is we were able to get better shots as the game went along.”
LSU scored the first nine points of the second half to take control, 31-27, less than five minutes in. However, Georgia used a three-point play and a conventional three pointer by Tasha Humphrey to recover the lead, 36-33 with 13:13 left.
Georgia answered with a 10-3 run of its own to lead 53-48 with 3:52 left, but the Lady Tigers were not to be denied. Quianna Chaney hit a jumper and Allison Hightower with a three pointer from the left wing with 3:08 to play to tie the game for the seventh time, 53-53.
Humphrey’s second-chance layup was again answered by two Hightower free throws to tie the game at 55-55 with 1:48 to play.
Fowles’ lone one basket in the final eight minutes of the game proved to be the game winner. With 53 seconds left, she took point guard Erica White‘s eighth assist of the game and layed it in to create the final margin.
Humphrey then had a chance to tie the game for Georgia in the final seconds, but was challenged near the goal by Fowles and Ashley Thomas and her layup bounced away from the rim harmlessly with four seconds left.
Fowles finished 10-of-14 shooting with three steals and a team-high five turnovers.
Chaney was 7-of-16 from the field for 15 points in 38 minutes, while Hightower came off the bench to add a career-high 12 points, seven from the free throw line.
Lady Tigers forward Ashley Thomas had nine rebounds, two assists and a blocked shot.
LSU shot 47 percent (15-32) in the second half to finish 23 of 64 (35.9 percent), but tt was the LSU defense that earned the win. The Lady Tigers forced 19 turnovers and scored 22 points off of them — 10 on fast breaks.
Georgia’s only player in double figures scoring was reserve forward Christy Marshall who was perfect from the field (5-5) to tally 12 points in 16 minutes. The rest of the team combined to hit only 15-of-49 shots (30.6 percent).
Humphrey (3 of 10, eight points, eight rebounds), Cori Chambers (3 of 9, eight points) and Janese Hardrick (3 of 9, nine points, six rebounds) were held in check offensively for most of the game. The trio averaged 41.4 points entering today’s game.
LSU extended its home winning streaks to 39 overall and 17 in Southeastern Conference play.
An ice-cold start in the first 11 minutes of the game put the Lady Tigers behind the eight ball. LSU made only 1-of-16 field goals to start the game, and needed an inspired effort to recover against the Lady Bulldogs.
Trailing 18-4 after a Christy Marshall three pointer with 11:26 left in the half, LSU rolled off 14-straight points to tie the game almost seven minutes later.
At the annual Pack the PMAC event, a crowd of 7,666 watched the victory.
LSU returns to action on Thursday when they travel to Oxford to face Ole Miss at 7 p.m. CT.
GAME NOTES
– Quianna Chaney scored in double figures for the seventh straight game with her 15 today.
– Sylvia Fowles scored in double figures for the ninth straight game with her 20 today.
– Fowles recorded her ninth double double of the season and the 44th of her career with 20 points and 12 rebounds.
– Allison Hightower scored a career high 12 points.
– LSU extended its nation’s best home court win streak to 39 straight games.
– The Lady Tigers have now won 17 straight Southeastern Conference home games.
LSU HEAD COACH POKEY CHATMAN QUOTES
Opening statement…
“Our crowd support was huge because we were struggling early on. It was frustrating at first to keep looking up at the scoreboard and seeing we only had two points. Then as the game went along you could feel the momentum picking up and the bottom line is we were able to get better shots as the game went along.”
On Allison Hightower…
“I am glad she was able to get to the free throw line a number of times. The first time she went to the line she was shooting for a technical foul and she nailed them. She worked well in transition and shot well from the perimeter. As a team we only shot 1-7 from three point range in the first half and we were not playing exceptionally well, but she kept her confidence and nailed a real big shot for us down the stretch. She played defense really well. She has the ability to contest some shots.”
On defending Tasha Humphrey…
“She (Humphrey) had a couple of fouls in the first half that cut back some of her minutes. When Tasha Humphrey plays 30 minutes and only shoots 10 shots that means you are defending her well.”
LSU Player Quotes
On what was going through her head at the end of the game…
“We started off sluggish and then we came back. We didn’t give up and we gave them a little more momentum and then we cut their ropes loose.”
On starting the SEC season…
“It wasn’t surprising at all. When you come in to the SEC, you take nothing for granted. Every team is going to be ready to play LSU regardless of what happened. It was a good feeling for us but I won’t say we were too satisfied with the win. We are kind of happy we gutted them out. We have much more ahead of us than the Lady Bulldogs.”
On opening the SEC season…
“It was a big game today and the Lady Bulldogs are one of the best teams in the nation. We knew what they were capable of so we went out there and tried to do our best.”
GEORGIA HEAD COACH ANDY LANDERS
Opening Statement
“I think from the standpoint of the score it was the kind of game that a lot of people thought was going to be played. The bottom line is we didn’t play well enough to win. It was really kind of a poor effort on our part in a lot of ways. We left the game plan for some reason in the second half and gave up passes to a wide open (Sylvia) Fowles. We didn’t contest Fowles at that point in the second half. In my mind, she scored either 10 or 12 in a six or seven minute span. She was totally contested with two or three off offensive rebounds, the others off of simple step ins and lay-ups right under the rim. That’s a joke. We have 19 turnovers. They are not inflicted. LSU plays good defense. They turned us over maybe six or seven times. We turned ourselves over maybe 10 or 11 times. That’s us shooting us right through the head, not through the foot but through the head. We had ill-conceived three-point attempts at times early on the shot clock. We didn’t play well enough to win. Not a good effort. Not a smart effort.”
On getting out to an early lead …
“We were executing. They started off in a zone (defense). We executed well and dropped the threes, which we do. Then they switch to man (defense) and we stand around. We don’t execute. We don’t go screen people. We don’t go get people open. All of a sudden we are out there sputtering and get our heads down. The reason we got our heads down is because the person that has got it down hasn’t done jack. They’re not executing, so they are back in it. We may have played reasonably well in the second half, except defensively for about six or seven minutes.”