BATON ROUGE — With 3:30 to play, LSU head women’s basketball coach Van Chancellor strolled to the scorer’s table, found a Lemonhead and ate one of the small yellow candies. It couldn’t have been as sweet and sour as saying goodbye to his eight-woman senior class which clinched its third Southeastern Conference regular season title with an 83-46 blowout win over Arkansas.
Sixth-ranked LSU (24-4, 13-0 SEC) didn’t disappoint the home crowd, building a 31-point first-half lead on its way to winning at least a share of the league title and the No. 1 seed in next week’s SEC Tournament in Nashville.
Moments after the game, a banner was dropped from the rafters to commemorate the 2008 SEC Championship, LSU third in four seasons.
“No words can explain it,” Sylvia Fowles said of claiming at least a share of the title. “Just to see this team stick together and win another championship is amazing.”
Arkansas (17-11, 2-11 SEC) seemed to be in a different league altogether, struggling to keep up with the bigger, faster and stronger Lady Tigers.
Senior Quianna Chaney single-handedly ran the Lady’Backs out of the gym in the opening minutes, making five-straight three pointers to give LSU an insurmountable advantage before her throng of friends and family could get settled into their seats.
Chaney finished 7-of-11 shooting including 6-of-9 from three-point range to lead all scorers with 20 points.
Fowles, also a senior, didn’t need to dominate on this Senior Night, but added 11 points and seven rebounds. Senior Marian Whitfield started for the first time in her five-year career and tallied nine points and five assists in 28 minutes.
Another senior, guard RaShonta LeBlanc, had a game-high eight assists — all in the first half — while scoring six points, grabbing four rebounds and three steals.
Senior guards Erica White and Khalilah Mitchell had nine and eight points, respectively. Seniors Ashley Thomas and Mesha Williams each scored six points.
LSU committed a school record-low three turnovers and five personal fouls, as it dominated both ends of the court.
The Lady Tigers show 47.2 percent from the field, while Arkansas was 18-of-49 shooting (36.7 percent).
LSU scored 37 points off 24 Lady’Backs turnovers.
Chaney, a senior from Baton Rouge, hit her first five three pointers for 15 of her team’s first 25 points to give the Lady Tigers a commanding 25-4 lead in the first 6:48 of the game.
The LSU lead ballooned to 31 in the first half, 42-11, as Fowles got into the act with 4:09 remaining.
“We played as well as we have played all season,” Chancellor said. “We had two great runs to open each half and kept the momentum going no matter who was in the game.”
LSU led 47-17 at the half on 54.8 percent shooting, while Arkansas made only 4-of-19 field goals for 21.1 percent.
The Lady Tigers led by as many as 47 early in the second half, using most of its reserves for the final 15 minutes.
LSU looks to clinch the outright SEC regular season title on Sunday when the Lady Tigers travel to Starkville to face Mississippi State at 2:30 p.m. CT.
GAME NOTES
– LSU’s eight senior players and two senior managers had their final home game of the regular season tonight. Erica White, Khalalah Mitchell, RaShonta LeBlanc, Quianna Chaney, Marian Whitfield, Mesha Williams, Sylvia Fowles and Ashley Thomas and managers Brittany Ward and Tangela Haynes were honored prior to the game.
– All eight seniors scored at least four points in the game.
– Senior Marian Whitfield made her first career start tonight in place of Erica White.
– Quianna Chaney scored in double figures for the 23rd game this season and the 62nd game of her career with 20 points tonight. Her total was also the sixth game of the season with at least 20 points and her 10th 20-plus point game of her career.
– Sylvia Fowles scored in double figures for the 25th game of the season and the 115th game of her career with 11 points tonight.
– With the win, LSU secured at least a first-place tie in the Southeastern Conference and the No. 1 seed in next week’s SEC Tournament. The SEC title in LSU’s third in the last four seasons.
– LSU completed the home regular season schedule with a 12-1 record and a perfect 7-0 mark in the SEC, the third perfect season in SEC play.
– LSU’s three turnovers are a school record for fewest turnovers in a game, breaking the previous mark of five turnovers against Tennessee on Feb. 23, 2003.
LSU HEAD COACH VAN CHANCELLOR
Opening statement…
“I thought we played as well as we could play tonight. We had two great runs to start both halves.”
On G Quianna Chaney’s game tonight…
“I told Bob (Starkey) that (Quianna) Chaney was a little too emotional. I didn’t think she would play well. Her parents were here. That just goes to show you how much I know. I thought she would want to do too good too early, but she was just making shots from everywhere.”
On LSU’s seed in the NCAA tournament…
“If we are going to be a two seed (in the NCAA Tournament), we are going to have to win the game at Mississippi State and play for the SEC (Tournament) Championship. Late in the season, it can be a killer when you have a bad loss. A bad loss would be to a non-ranked team, whether that is at the first or second round of the SEC or Mississippi State. If we take care of those three games, and play on Sunday night for an SEC Championship, I think we will be a two seed at least, or more. I believe that if you win enough, all of that takes care of itself. You just can’t have a bad loss at the end.”
On stressing the team’s readiness to play the game tonight…
“I think they would probably tell you I was in a pretty foul mood yesterday. Between you and I, I did that on purpose. I didn’t want the team to know it. I wanted the team to think I was in such a bad mood because I didn’t want to let the SEC Championship get away from us. I’ve said it before and I will say it again, when your team has to play in Tennessee at a single game, it is the second hardest tournament to win in the country outside of the National Championship.That is why we will cherish this one. I don’t want to be satisfied. Personally, I don’t want to share this with the Big Orange (Tennessee)”
On holding C Sylvia off on her record…
“I wanted Sylvia to have something to shoot for at Sunday’s game. I started about five games ago with a countdown for her, telling her that she could be the all-time SEC rebounder. She is 60 or so rebounds short right now from being the all-time rebounder in SEC history. She is really easy to motivate.”
ARKANAS HEAD COACH TOM COLLEN QUOTES
Opening statement…
“I thought LSU played an outstanding game and I congratulate them on winning the SEC Championship. I am always kind of amazed because I think outside of the state of Louisiana that people don’t give LSU the credit that they deserve for what they have been able to accomplish with four-straight Final Four appearances and the potential for a fifth. They have truly become somewhat of a similar dynasty to Tennessee and UConn. I give them a lot of credit. It started with (former LSU coach) Sue Gunther. Van Chancellor has stepped in here with a lot of pressure and high expectations. To date, he has accomplished what everybody expects. I am rooting for them to go to the Final Four and make it five in a row. That is probably what it will take for them to be seen in the same class as Tennessee and UConn.”
On tonight’s game…
“As far as the game tonight, we clearly weren’t focused. You guys (media) probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you the last thing I told my team was ?Whatever you do, don’t give Quianna Chaney any early open threes.’ She hit a couple of them and we called a timeout to remind them. We came out of the timeout and she hit another one. I called a second timeout and she came out and hit another one. I don’t know what that says about my communication skills with my players when I tell them that and 30 seconds later they still can’t get it done. To me, that just says they weren’t focused.”