BATON ROUGE — In its first appearance under head coach Van Chancellor, the LSU women’s basketball team showed why it’s advanced to four consecutive Women’s Final Fours. The Lady Tigers scored 25 unanswered points to open the game and cruised to a 94-35 exhibition win over the All-Stars.
“I thought we started off the game pretty good. I don’t care who you play or where you play; when you are up 25-0 you have done some pretty good things,” Chancellor said. “I thought we opened up the game with some pretty good ball. We let it get a little sloppy at the end, but sometimes that is pretty hard to do. I was pleased overall. Our defense was better than I thought it was, particularly our full-court defense.”
Led by All-American Sylvia Fowles‘ 16 points, LSU shot 50 percent from the field (38 of 76) and forced 35 All-Stars turnovers.
Fowles, who made 7-of-10 shots, was joined in double figures scoring by sophomore guard Allison Hightower and senior guard Quianna Chaney with 11 points each. Senior guard RaShonta LeBlanc, senior center Mesha Williams and junior forward Kristen Morris each added 10 points.
Chaney had game-highs of six assists and five steals in 19 minutes.
Williams and point guard Erica White each grabbed six rebounds to lead LSU, as all 12 Lady Tigers had at least two points and a rebound.
For the All-Stars, four players had six points including Chelsea Grear, Tasha Phillips, Janee Hayes and Jana Rediger.
The All-Stars shot only 24.1 percent from the field (13 of 54) including only 4-of-28 in the first half.
Before a second ticked off the clock, LSU took a lead. A rare “administrative” technical foul was charged to the All-Stars for failing to turn in their starting lineup 10 minutes prior to tip-off. LSU’s Marian Whitfield hit both free throws.
In the next 10:14 of the contest, the Lady Tigers scored 23-straight points to lead 25-0.
During the run, Fowles led a group of eight Lady Tigers scorers with six points.
LSU extended the lead to 40 in the first half, 44-4, and finished the half shooting 51.2 percent from the field.
The Lady Tigers also forced 21 first-half turnovers, 17 coming off steals.
LSU led 54-9 at the break, as Fowles scored 12 points and Chaney had seven. The All-Stars made only 4-of-28 shots in the first 20 minutes.
The song remained the same in the second half, as the All-Stars missed their first six field-goal attempts and fell behind 76-10 with 12 minutes to play.
Though the All-Stars nearly tripled their first-half point total with 18 second-half points, the outcome and the superior team was never in question.
LSU returns to action on Monday, Nov. 5, when the Houston Jaguars visit the Maravich Center for a 7 p.m. CST tip-off in the Lady Tigers’ final exhibition of the season.
LSU vs. All Stars
October 31, 2007
Coach Van Chancellor
Opening statement…
“I thought we started off the game pretty good. I don’t care who you play or where you play; when you are up 52-9 you have done some pretty good things. I thought we opened up the game with some pretty good ball. We let it get a little sloppy at the end, but sometimes that is pretty hard to do. I was pleased overall. Our defense was better than I thought it was, particularly our full-court defense.”
On the play of Allison Hightower…
“Next game we will probably start working her in more with the first unit. I have to get her more minutes with them then I did tonight. We have to utilize her because she can score. She is a player that can score in the dark.”
On starting the season…
“I was very excited and motivated. I was ready to go because it was our first game. I was glad that I did a couple of things to help my teammates out. I thought it went well overall.”
On if it is hard to get motivated for an exhibition…
“It is not hard when you have your coaches down your back and your teammates on the sideline screaming and yelling at you every second to not let up. It kind of slipped for a moment, but once they get back on you, then we know we have to keep at it.”