RUSTON, La. ? After nearly 17 years without a trip to Ruston, the No. 8 LSU women’s basketball team looked right at home against its northern rival Louisiana Tech on Sunday. The Lady Tigers held the Lady Techsters to 26.7-percent shooting in a 76-45 blowout at Thomas Assembly Center.
LSU (7-2) used a 14-2 run in the final seven minutes of the first half to extend its lead to 18 and eventually hand Louisiana Tech (4-6) its fourth-straight loss.
“We were ready to play today,” LSU head coach Van Chancellor said. “We responded well after the 14 day layoff. We moved the ball well and shot well. This is as good a game as we have played all season.”
The Lady Tigers improved to 2-6 all-time against the long-time powerhouse Lady Techsters in Ruston.
Center Sylvia Fowles, who led four players in double figures scoring with 16 points, grabbed eight rebounds to move ahead of Tennessee’s Chamique Holdsclaw into fifth place on the Southeastern Conference’s all-time rebounds list (1,296).
LSU guard RaShonta LeBlanc played well on both ends of the court, scoring 10 points on 4-of-6 field goals while dishing six assists and recording four steals.
Ashley Thomas added 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting, while guard Marian Whitfield came off the bench to score a career-best 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting in the final 10 minutes.
LSU point guard Erica White added six assists and three steals. Center Mesha Williams had eight rebounds.
The Lady Tigers blocked nine shots.
LSU shot 50 percent from the field in each half, making 32-of-64 shots for the game.
Louisiana Tech, which struggled to find the bottom of the net throughout the day, finished 16 of 60 from the field including 7 of 33 (21.2 percent) in the second half.
Tiawana Pringle, who made 4-of-8 shots to keep the Lady Techsters close early on, missed her final nine shots but led her team with 12 points. JoKeirra Sneed and Shanavia Dowdell each added 10 points.
Fowles missed the first shot of the game before getting a second-chance layup for a 2-0 lead that LSU wouldn’t relinquish. The basket started a string of eight consecutive field goals for the Lady Tigers. LSU led 17-8 on a Fowles layup with 14:48 to play in the half.
After the Lady Tigers missed five-straight, Louisiana Tech cut the lead to three with 12 minutes left in the first half.
However, the Lady Techsters went cold and couldn’t recover.
The Lady Techsters started 6-of-10 from the field but missed 14-of-17 shots to the end the half and got outscored 22-7 in that span.
LSU’s defense had a lot to do with the Lady Techsters inefficiency, as the Lady Tigers forced nine turnovers in the final 12 minutes of the half to lead 40-22.
LSU again found its offensive stroke to start the second half, hitting 6-of-9 field goals to open the half and extending the lead to 53-25 in the first six minutes.
Meanwhile, Louisiana Tech came out of the lockerroom as cold as it went in, missing its first eight field goal attempts of the second half.
With seven minutes to play, LSU held Louisiana Tech to 2-of-20 second-half shooting and led 62-33. The Lady Techsters had more points from the free throw line (seven) than the field (four).
LSU buses to Houston Sunday evening before flying to Cancun, Mexico, on Monday morning to take part in the Caribbean Classic. The Lady Tigers will face Illinois-Chicago at 2:30 p.m. CST on Tuesday before taking on Miami (Fla.) on Wednesday at the same time.
GAME NOTES
Sylvia Fowles reached double figures in scoring for the 99th time of her career with 16 points today.
RaShonta LeBlanc scored in double figures for the 10th time of her career with 10 points today.
Ashley Thomas scored in double figures for 12th time of her career with 10 points today.
Marian Whitfield’s 10 points was a career high for the senior guard.