VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The LSU women’s basketball team completed a Saturday doubleheader sweep on the first day of a Labor Day Canadian exhibition tour, defeating Trinity Western University, 81-27, followed by another decisive victory over the University of British Columbia, 74-46, in the nightcap.
Freshman forward Swayze Black scored 10 points in each contest in her debut. Freshman forward Taylor Turnbow led all scorers with 14 points in the first game against Trinity Western, and junior guard Allison Hightower poured in a game-high 17 points on 8-of-14 shooting in the second contest versus UBC. Senior Kristen Morris carried the Lady Tigers with eight points, seven rebounds, a block and two steals against UBC.
“This has been great experience with two games today,” LSU head coach Van Chancellor said. “We had the chance to evaluate all of our players and put them in an actual game environment. We learned a lot about our team today and feel these games will serve as a valuable experience when we officially open practice in October.”
Chancellor praised the team’s intensity level in having two play two games in a seven-hour period.
“When you play as many as we did, it allowed us to evaluate multiple combinations on the floor,” he said. “Our team woke up early, ate breakfast and then went out and played hard in back-to-back games. I enjoy the attitude of this team and they work hard. It is exciting to see the effort they have given in only a week of practice together.”
The Lady Tigers, who feature eight newcomers, never trailed in either contest and used stifling defense that shut down two of Canada’s premier teams. LSU held TWU to 21 percent from the field and allowed only 11 made shots on 52 attempts. UBC managed only a 37 percent effort from the floor in the nightcap.
Playing by Canadian Interuniversity Sport Conference rules, LSU led 26-6 after the first quarter on TWU. Trinity Western was held to single digits in each of the first three quarters and trailed 63-16 after the third quarter. In that period, TWU only made one field goal and scored only two points to LSU’s 21.
The Lady Tigers’ size led to a 35-24 advantage on the boards highlighted by Turnbow’s eight rebounds. She finished with a game-high 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting. Sophomore guard Katherine Graham was a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line, and freshman forward Courtney Jones contributed 10 points off the bench.
LSU shot 57 percent (36-of-63) from the field against TWU, and then two hours later took to the floor again against British Columbia. Once again, the Lady Tigers held a double-digit lead at the end of the first break and then extended that advantage to 38-22 at the half. LSU outscored UBC 36-24 in the second half to finish off the 28-point victory.
The Lady Tigers conclude the Labor Day Canadian tour at 7 p.m. CDT Sunday against Simon Fraser. The game will feature a live audio webcast provided by Simon Fraser at athletics.sfu.ca/broadcast.