BATON ROUGE – Wade Trophy watch list candidate LaSondra Barrett poured in a season-high 18 points and the LSU women’s basketball team held UCLA to 31.5 percent shooting as the Lady Tigers rolled past the Bruins for a big non-conference win, 58-41, on Tuesday night in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
LSU (5-3) defeated a Pac-12 opponent for the seventh straight time dating back to 2004. The last time the Lady Tigers lost to a Pac-12 foe was at Oregon on Nov. 16, 2003. The streak includes now two victories over UCLA as LSU defeated the Bruins last season in Los Angeles.
UCLA (5-3), playing for the first time since Dec. 4 and taking on its former coach in Nikki Caldwell, saw a three-game winning streak come to an end and lost its third straight to LSU. The Bruins became the latest LSU opponent in the Maravich Center to suffer from offensive woes. The Lady Tigers have held all five of its home opponents to under 45 points.
“I’m proud of this group for maintaining their composure, and I’m proud of this group for relying on their defense and our board play to win this game,” said Caldwell. “We stress a lot on the defensive end. We really have been working on keeping people out of rhythm and making sure we’re doing what we need to do to disrupt them.”
Barrett turned in her best game of the season, finishing 7-of-13 of the floor and grabbing a game-high eight rebounds with five assists. With LSU leading by three in the final two minutes of the first half, Barrett ignited a 7-0 run to close the period, including five straight points in the final 46 seconds.
Jeanne Kenney had a lay-up and Kenney found Barrett for a lay-up of her own. Barrett put the finishing touches on the first half when she nailed a three-pointer from the top of the key with three seconds left that lifted the lead to double-digits. LSU led 30-20 into the locker room.
Junior guard Adrienne Webb added 13 points – her fourth double-digit game in the past five contests – and she knocked down three treys. Webb became the eighth player in school history to make at least 100 threes in a career. Her three tonight put her at 102, which ranks eighth in LSU annals. Sophomore guard Jeanne Kenney tied a career-high with five steals and added seven points.
UCLA was led in scoring by Markel Walker who finished with 11 points. Walker was playing in her first game of the season after sustaining an injury earlier in the year.
“With the addition of Markel Walker back on the team, I thought she had a good night against us if you take away her turnovers,” said Caldwell, who spent three seasons as the Bruins head coach. “UCLA is always going to be dear to me. The administration there gave me my first head coaching job, and there are some great people at UCLA. It’s helped mold me into the coach that I am today. We want nothing but the best for not only their current players, but their former players as well.”
The Bruins shot 42.1 percent in the first half, but LSU played inspired defense in the second half, holding UCLA to 25.7 percent shooting in the final 20 minutes. Once again, Barrett was the catalyst scoring seven points in the first nine minutes highlighted by a jumper on a called foul with 12:02 left in the game. She made the free throw and added another lay-up that pushed the lead to 43-30 with 10:58 remaining in the contest.
Webb then scored LSU’s next seven points with a three from the wing and a fast break lay-up. UCLA went six minutes without a field goal starting at the 10:40 mark before Rebekah Gardner broke the drought at the 4:14 mark. By then, LSU was in full control and Caldwell emptied her bench in the final four minutes.
For the second straight game, the Lady Tigers shot a consistent 49.0 percent from the floor and overcame turnover difficulties for the win. LSU dominated the boards, 37-28, and the Lady Tigers outscored the Bruins in the paint, 36-20.
The Lady Tigers will hit the road for a non-conference game at McNeese State at 6 p.m. CT Friday. It will be LSU’s first trip to Burton Coliseum since Feb. 18, 1991. The contest can be heard on the LSU Sports Radio Network on 107.3 FM in Baton Rouge or in the Geaux Zone at www.LSUsports.net/live.
HEAD COACH NIKKI CALDWELL
On LSU …
“This team has been very efficient. They were efficient if you take the turnovers out of the question. I’m proud of this group for maintaining their composure, and I’m proud of this group for relying on their defense and our board play to win this game. We stress a lot on the defensive end. We really have been working on keeping people out of rhythm and making sure we’re doing what we need to do to disrupt them. I’m very proud of this group – and I’ve been proud of them year-round – for making that an emphasis on the defensive end. We really haven’t given up a lot of points to a lot of our opponents, we just haven’t scored the basketball, and we’ve been plagued with turnovers.”
On UCLA …
“UCLA’s a good basketball team. They’ve got some great players on the roster. When you look at Atonye Nyingifa and Rebekah Gardner, those are two very quality basketball players. With the addition of Markel Walker back on the team, I thought she had a good night against us if you take away her turnovers. Their best player, (Jasmine) Dixon, is out and so I commend them for their other players really stepping up and taking that leadership role for them. They’re a very young team. They have a lot of young people playing a lot of minutes, but it’s only going to help them get better down the road. UCLA is always going to be dear to me. The administration there gave me my first head coaching job, and there are some great people at UCLA. It’s helped mold me into the coach that I am today. We want nothing but the best for not only their current players, but their former players as well.”
Sr. F LaSondra Barrett
On having her best game of the year…
“There was a lot of intensity and I just wanted to be that leader and be that energizer on the floor. We all gave great effort and were great communicators and stayed positive throughout the game. I commend my teammates being there knocking shots down and playing great defense. Our bench was great coming in and keeping up the energy. It was a good win for everybody.”
On ending half with a 7-0 run…
“Coach talks to us about winning segments and we wanted to stretch the game out especially going into halftime and carry the momentum. When all five people we have on the court are focused and have a great mindset, runs like that will happen. We were all together, we were all one.”
Jr. G Adrienne Webb
On making her first three pointer this year…
“This year I converted to my two game since it felt like I was rushing my three, instead of letting it flow into the game. Tonight I just fell into the game. I didn’t have to force it up or look for an open shot.”
UCLA Head Coach Cori Close
Opening Statement…
“LSU did a great job playing to their strengths, using their lengths in the back of their zone. They played with great purpose, intensity and energy tonight. Our team had a lot of fight tonight and I know we are going to learn from this. LSU put us in situation that brought our weaknesses to the front. The emotions got away from us when there was adversity. We were never able to gain our composure that we needed to play to our strengths. We will learn from this and make it a stepping stone on who we need to become.”
On LSU’s defense…
“They have eight players over 6’2” and the back line of the zone really extended. It made us hold the ball along the perimeter and made us wonder if we could make the next pass. After we turned the ball over early we started to doubt if we could make the next pass, make the defense shift and pass around them. They made us dribble around the horn and not towards the basket. I have studied UCLA films from when Nikki (Caldwell) was there and LSU film and she is a great defensive coach. Defense and rebounding wins games and that was the difference. They were able to rebound and had the defense that used their strengths.”
On the players’ emotions for the game…
“I told the players that this game is not going to make or break us. In their minds this was an anticipated matchup. They needed to keep their emotions at a level to where they could concentrate on what they needed to do to be successful each possession. The advantage was on LSU’s side because their emotions were on their staff while ours were with our players. They really care about their coaches and their games. Our players at UCLA have had two great staffs that have loved them and I am excited they get that.”