BATON ROUGE – Courtney Jones had her first career double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds and Katherine Graham scored a team-high 18 points as the LSU women’s basketball team overcame a sluggish first half to win its second straight game, 55-52, on Thursday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The win propelled the Lady Tigers (17-9, 7-5 SEC) to fifth place in the Southeastern Conference standings and now sets up a huge showdown at No. 15 Kentucky on Sunday. The game will tipoff at 1:30 p.m. CT on ESPN2. The Wildcats were upset at South Carolina on Thursday and fell into fourth place.
Auburn (13-11, 6-5) lost its third consecutive game and became the latest victim of LSU’s stellar defense. The Lady Tigers held their fifth straight opponent to 55 points or less and avenged an earlier tough loss on the Plains in January.
“I thought (Katherine) Graham gave us some big plays tonight,” said LSU head coach Van Chancellor, who won his 40th SEC game at LSU. “I thought Destini Hughes was outstanding defensively. Her stats don’t show it, and I thought Courtney Jones gave us a ton of energy and points and rebounds. When you come off the bench and you have 11-11 (points and rebounds), I think it’s outstanding.”
Graham carried the load offensively for LSU with 12 of her 18 points in the second half. She buried 12-of-15 from the free throw line, representing the eighth-most made free throws in school history.
Jones came off the bench and was tough on the inside with a career-high 11 rebounds. Adrienne Webb put a poor shooting first half behind her and finished with 10 points, including two three-pointers. Webb moved into sixth place in LSU single-season threes with 65.
The Lady Tigers missed their first 11 shots of the game and turned it over five times in the first 10 minutes. Jones put LSU on the board with a free throw at the 14:05 mark with the Lady Tigers trailing 7-1. Graham finally gave LSU its first field goal on a one-handed jumper with 9:57 remaining in the first half.
Auburn, meanwhile, committed 14 turnovers in the first half and the Tigers were unable to get anything going offensively. LSU shot 19.2 percent in the first half but managed to tie the game at 16 into halftime.
Webb knocked down the Lady Tigers’ first three of the night right out of the locker room, but Auburn built a 30-24 lead with 12:14 left in the game. Jones converted a layup on an inbounds play and Jeanne Kenney brought the crowd to its feet with a three from the right wing that knotted the game at 30 apiece.
The Jones bucket sparked a 21-5 run for LSU that led to a dramatic turnaround and a 45-35 lead with 5:29 to play. LaSondra Barrett‘s two free throws culminated the run. Destini Hughes gathered two crucial steals that led to breakaway points.
Auburn would make a game of it again thanks to clutch three-point shooting in the final minute. Alli Smalley drained two treys, including one that made it 54-52 LSU with eight seconds left on the clock. Graham made four free throws in the final 40 seconds, but missed a crucial one that gave Auburn hope, trailing 55-52 with seven seconds to go.
Following a timeout, Auburn misfired on a potential game-tying three-pointer as time expired.
LSU converted 22 points off turnovers and finished 22-of-30 from the free throw line.
“When you shoot 20-something percent from the twos and 23 percent from the threes and you win a game, our defense has just been outstanding,” said Chancellor. “In the last seven games, if we would have shot (better), we’d be on a seven-game winning streak. Our problem is just making shots.”
LSU HEAD COACH VAN CHANCELLOR
Opening statement…
“I thought (Katherine) Graham gave us some big plays tonight. I thought Destini Hughes was outstanding defensively. Her stats don’t show it, and I thought Courtney Jones gave us a ton of energy and points and rebounds. When you come off the bench and you have 11-11 (points and rebounds), I think it’s outstanding. I’m just pleased. We had a little cushion, and then they made three of the greatest shots in the last 30 seconds you could ever make. We had the game in great shape, and then No. 11 (Courtney Strain) makes one out of the corner.”
On Auburn not getting the shot it wanted in the final possession…
“We thought that they wanted her to come right, so we tried to force the ball away from her. We thought they would send her over here. Instead, we just wanted to let her come over here. We told Destini Hughes to stay away and keep her away from right in front of her bench, keep the ball on the other side.”
On what he told the team at halftime after a poor shooting half…
“Let’s just play basketball, relax a little bit and let it come to us. I didn’t go over a lot of things. Then I thought when they went man late in the game we got every shot we wanted. We got every little shot. We made some, and we missed some. We missed more easy shots than I’ve seen us. But, let me tell you, when you shoot 20-something percent from the twos and 23 percent from the threes and you win a game, our defense has just been outstanding. In the last seven games, if we would have shot (better), we’d be on a seven-game winning streak. Our problem is just making shots. Now we did make free throws tonight. If we don’t make free throws tonight, we get beat.
On the clutch foul shooting…
“Katherine Graham made up a lot of the free throws. I thought Destini Hughes hit two big ones, too. I thought her two were really, really big. I thought Graham’s were good all through the deal. I thought Katherine Graham did a great job on No. 14 (Blanche Alverson). She’s a real tough kid to guard. I thought she did a great job.”
LSU Player Quotes
On the slow start …
“We came out slow. Practice has been the same as usual and we try to have good practices so that we can carry our effort into games, but in the first half we have started out slow. We turned the ball over and were inconsistent with our shots. Once we settled down, the offense came. We were getting stops on defense, and they made some great shots at the end and throughout the entire game. We just wanted to establish the kind of defense that we have been playing the past five games and remain consistent offensively.”
On whether the team learned from the Arkansas game …
“We try to learn lessons from each game and take positives and negatives from each game. Tonight, we just wanted to make sure we did not get complacent with shooting 3-point shots and we wanted to get the ball inside and get to the line to get our offense going. I think we did a pretty good job of doing that during the first half.”
On her free throws at the end of the game …
“I knew I had to make at least one to keep it a two possession game. We have been working on free throws in practice and shooting them before each game. Tonight, I just tried to do my usual routine and luckily the free throws went in.”
On her performance …
I just came out ready to play. I knew my team was depending on me to rebound and defend. As the game went on, I got more comfortable and relaxed and let the game come to me.”
On Auburn center Pascale West …
“She was pretty strong. She is a few inches taller than me, so I just had to use my strength. We have been working very hard in the weight room, so I just had to suck it up and defend her.”
On gaining momentum …
“With any team, winning builds momentum. With winning our last two games, hopefully it will improve our confidence and morale. We just cannot get complacent and relax because we won the last two games. There is still a lot of basketball to be played, so we just have to go into practice tomorrow focused.”
On contributing in ways other than scoring …
“I feel like I get a lot of energy from my teammates. From what I hear, I am a good defender and I take lots of pride in that. Facing a great penetrator like Morgan Toles and a great shooter like Parrisha Simmons, I just had to dig down deep and use my strength and energy from my teammates to stay pumped up.”
On Auburn’s final shot …
“We didn’t know who was going to take the final shot. We were just trying to prevent a 3-point shot. She had a good look but luckily missed it. We were just trying to dig in and play good defense.”