BATON ROUGE — All-Southeastern Conference forward LaSondra Barrett notched a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds and the LSU women’s basketball team maintained its home court dominance against Florida with a 72-58 romp of the Gators in front of a paid crowd of 5,373 on Sunday afternoon in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The Lady Tigers (14-7, 4-3 SEC) won their eighth straight game in Baton Rouge against Florida and their fifth straight overall in the series. The Gators (12-9, 2-5) dropped their fourth consecutive game and remained winless in Baton Rouge since 1996.
“It’s cold outside but I said it would be hot in the PMAC, and it was with 72 points,” said head coach Van Chancellor , who improved to 4-0 against Florida at LSU. “That’s pretty good. That is the most dominant rebounding we have been since I have been here, even with Sylvia (Fowles).
“They made it a little closer than I wanted to, but once again we shot the ball well. Heck of a crowd here today. Our little (GPA) bookmark game that (associate head coach) Bob Starkey started is going well. It’s great for the kids and a great way to encourage them.”
LSU once again played unselfish basketball and took it right to Florida, building a double-digit first half lead. Barrett delivered her 10th career double-double and nearly registered the fourth triple-double in school history as she finished with a career-best eight assists.
Barrett hit the floor hard midway through the second half with an ankle injury, but she returned and finished with 14 points, putting her seven away from the 1,000-point plateau for her career.
Adrienne Webb fired in a game-high 18 points and she moved into sole possession of eighth place in LSU career three-pointers with her 3-of-6 effort today. Webb surpassed Latasha Dorsey and sits at 81 career treys. Katherine Graham played her best game of the SEC season with 11 points, nine rebounds, four assists and three steals.
LSU turned around an 11-10 deficit with an 11-0 run ignited by a Webb three from the right wing with 11:59 on the clock in the first half. Graham knocked down a pair of free throws and Jeanne Kenney drove through the lane for a lay-up.
Following Latear Eason ‘s lay-in, LSU led 21-11. Florida closed with two treys in the final minute but the Lady Tigers still held a 38-30 margin at the break. That’s when LSU turned up its defense out of the locker room, holding the Gators to only one field goal in the first 10 minutes of the second stanza.
LSU outscored Florida 17-8 to build its largest lead of the game, 55-38, when Swayze Black converted a reverse lay-up at the 6:55 mark in the second half. Barrett collided with Kenney with 12:53 on the clock, but she shrugged it off and later returned with 10:45 to play. Barrett scored the final seven points of the game, including her second three-pointer of the contest, to account for the final margin.
LSU shot 50.9 percent (28-of-55) for the game, its highest percentage in a conference tilt this season. Florida finished at 41.5 percent (22-of-53) and was led in scoring by Jordan Jones, who tossed in 15 points. The Gators committed 14 turnovers and were dominated on the glass, 41-24.
The Lady Tigers continue a four-game homestand at 7 p.m. CT Thursday against No. 24 Arkansas. The Razorbacks were stunned by Ole Miss on Sunday, losing at home by a score of 69-65. Thursday’s game will not be televised but carried on the LSU Sports Radio Network.
“We have got two tough games, two challenges and two opportunities with Arkansas and Georgia,” said Chancellor. “They have great RPIs, and at this time of year you need to win some games against teams with high RPIs. They will be great challenges. Arkansas is just hard to guard and Georgia is just so athletic.”
LSU HEAD COACH VAN CHANCELLOR
Opening Statement …
“It’s cold outside but I said it would be hot in the PMAC, and it was with 72 points. That’s pretty good. That is the most dominant rebounding we have been since I have been here, even with Sylvia (Fowles). They made it a little closer than I wanted to, but once again we shot the ball well. Heck of a crowd here today. Our little (GPA) bookmark game that (associate head coach) Bob Starkey started is going well. It’s great for the kids and a great way to encourage them.”
On shooting less threes in second half …
“I kept talking to them about being more patient and quit shooting the ball at the end of one pass. Make more than one pass, and we did. We did a good job of that with 38 and 34 points in the halves.”
On what the team did to get so many open looks in the paint …
“We did a good job of running our little ‘C-play.’ Our little screen on the ball, they would switch it and we would throw it from the wing to the high post and then shoot a layup. They were switching everything and we had a lot of mismatches, so we got the ball inside.”
On where the team goes from here …
“We have got two tough games, two challenges and two opportunities with Arkansas and Georgia. They have great RPIs, and at this time of year you need to win some games against teams with high RPIs. They will be great challenges. Arkansas is just hard to guard and Georgia is just so athletic.”
On how important it is to win at home …
“About as important as it can be. We have to take advantage of home court, I don’t care what league you’re in. You have to win the home games and you have to figure out a way to get a victory or two on the road.”
LSU PLAYER QUOTES
On the team’s offense…
“We just started screening more and being more patient with our offense because we knew against Ole Miss that we got a lot of our threes off of working inside first and working inside-out. That is one thing we had to establish. Sometimes we can be trigger happy with the three, so we need to stay on course.”
On what the coaching staff has been telling her…
“When I talked to him (Coach Chancellor) he said that I need to play hard every possession. Coach Travis (Mays) really helped me today to stay focused and play like I need to play. Just talking to Coach Travis has helped me see this is the homestretch. There are only a few more games at LSU for me wearing this jersey. Just to go out every play and do what I’ve been doing since I’ve been here.”
On playing multiple roles…
“We’re a team, and whatever it takes to get the win I’m willing to do it. That’s my role on the team. Just coming out and doing whatever coach needs me to do and what my team needs me to, that’s what I am going to come out and do.”
On the team’s strong day rebounding…
“It is just a hunger to want the basketball. Coach kind of questioned us before the game to who was going to be tougher, us or Florida. At the end of game, whatever team had the best defense and the most rebounds was going to come out with the win. One thing in our pregame is that we challenge ourselves to be the best post players on the boards and getting offensive rebounds. As far as size, I think they were bigger than us. We used our speed and our positioning to our advantage.”
On the next two games on the home-stretch…
“They’re extremely important. Coach gave us a rundown on the RPI game. It’s like a pillar and we’re taking steps. We’re up two steps and we can’t take steps backwards. We need to take these home games to our advantage because any road game in the SEC is tough. These next two games we play two great teams that have been doing good things this season. We just have to prepare how we have been preparing and show the same intensity we have been showing these past couple of weeks.”
FLORIDA HEAD COACH AMANDA BUTLER
On today’s performance against LSU …
“I’m a little baffled because we came out ready to play, and it’s disappointing. I thought LSU made big shots and plays to set the tone for the game. Then, they also made a little run at the end to separate themselves from us. You have to give them a lot of credit.”
On the rebounding effort of the team today compared to the past couple of games …
“It’s disappointing. We had two tremendous rebound performances the past two games against what I thought were great rebounding teams. We weren’t tough enough, weren’t physical enough and didn’t take pride in that aspect of our game, which is really hard to understand.”