BATON ROUGE – The LSU women’s basketball team bounced back in a big way from its season opening loss and a little over 24 hours later posted a 71-45 victory versus Sam Houston State Saturday at the Maravich Center.
The Lady Tigers (1-1) outscored Sam Houston State by a 39-20 margin during the second half. All 11 players scored a point and grabbed a rebound for LSU. The Lady Tigers also controlled the glass and collected a 47-24 rebounding advantage.
“Much better effort on this team’s part to really come out and play with a lot of energy,” head coach Nikki Caldwell said. “It started with our defensive pressure. We were really committed to not only trying to trap out of our half court, but I thought our full court pressure really set the tone for us. Our ability to rebound the basketball really controlled the basketball really controlled the tempo of the game.”
Jenna Deemer tallied 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting over her 21 minutes of action off the bench. The Lady Tigers amassed 39 of the game’s 41 bench points and held a 38-12 edge in paint points. Stephanie Amichia added nine points and six rebounds, while DaShawn Harden chipped in seven points.
LSU’s starting unit was fueled by Raigyne Moncrief who nearly posted a double-double with 12 points and eight rebounds. Ann Jones chipped in seven points and six rebounds whereas Anne Pedersen notched six points. Akilah Bethel came away with five points, five rebounds and three steals.
Sam Houston State (0-1) was paced by Shernise Robertson’s 21 points.
After an opening half that featured four ties and seven lead changes, LSU put together a strong finishing flurry to break open a 20-20 tie in the closing minutes.
Amichia ignited a 12-5 spurt with a traditional three-point play off a putback layup. Pedersen tacked on two free throws before Deemer drained a triple from the left wing followed by a driving layup. Moncrief added another second chance layup as the buzzer sounded which enabled the Lady Tigers to secure a 32-25 lead into the locker room.
The Bearkats tallied the first three points of the second half to get within 32-28 during the first minute. LSU fired back with 13 consecutive points over the next 4:37 off the clock. Moncrief and Pedersen sparked the run with a pair of field goals. Rina Hill capped the run with a steal and went coast-to-coast for a left-handed layup to make it 45-28 with 14:16 remaining.
The Lady Tigers extended the lead to 20 six minutes later after an Amichia putback layup, and Jasmine Rhodes wrapped up the 71-45 victory with a three-pointer.
“I think it’s a learning lesson for all of us,” Caldwell said. “I’m learning a lot about this team this year. Can we bounce back? You always talk about after a setback, there’s a comeback. We were able to do that today. This team did a nice job, in a short period of time as far as scouting, taking what we did before in our shoot around and really making those adjustments.”
LSU continues its stretch of five games over an eight-day span to open the 2014-15 season and takes on Jackson State Monday evening at the Maravich Center.
Tip time is on-tap for 7 p.m. The game will be carried online only by SEC Network Plus via http://www.watchespn.com/ and the Watch ESPN app. Lyn Rollins and Victor Howell will serve as the announcing team.
The LSU Sports Radio Network will broadcast the game on its flagship station Talk 107.3 FM in Baton Rouge. The broadcast featuring Patrick Wright, the voice of the Lady Tigers, also will be available for Geaux Zone subscribers at www.LSUsports.net/live.
Season tickets are on sale for $75 online at http://www.LSUtix.net/. The LSU Athletics Ticket Office can be reached at (800) 960-8587 or (225) 578-2184 and is located on the first floor of the Moran Family Center for Athletics Administration Building. Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays.
For all of the latest news and information on Lady Tiger basketball, visit www.LSUsports.net/womensbasketball. Fans can also follow the program on its social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/LSUwbkb, @lsuwbkb and @NikkiCaldwell on Twitter, @LSUwbkb and @LSUNikkiCaldwell on Instagram.
LSU Women’s Basketball Postgame Quotes
Sam Houston State vs. LSU – November 15, 2014
GUARD JENNA DEEMER
On the importance of coming back after a loss …
“I think that it’s not about the loss, but how we react to it. It was the first game. Of course, we didn’t want to lose, but it was how we reacted to it. I think we reacted well today.”
On how her actions gave the team momentum …
“In the locker room, we talked about ‘The Energy Bus.’ I think that (performance) put us on the Energy Bus. It gave us a little motivation, a little tempo and our defensive stops got converted.”
On the key to success during today’s game …
“I think communication is key. This is only our second game so we’re still getting to know each other. We’re playing better with each other.”
On the adjustments from yesterday and the team’s chemistry…
“I think a big key to that (team chemistry) is knowing your role on the team. When everybody plays their role, I feel like we’re unstoppable because everybody has different roles.”
LSU FORWARD STEPHANIE AMICHIA
On the importance of coming back after yesterday’s loss …
“You just have to get over it, you can’t go back. There’s no time machine to go back and fix anything. You take what you need from that game. You capitalize off of the things you did well and you learn from your mistakes. I think we did a good job – just coming off of a loss and of forgetting it and moving forward.”
On the adjustments from yesterday and the team’s chemistry…
“Personally, I had to learn that you just play basketball. You came here to play basketball, and that’s what you’re going to do. Just stop going through the motions, you run a play, don’t just run the play. You go there, you go here. Play basketball, and learn how your teammates work. Be open to understanding who your personnel is and understanding how your teammates work. I know Jenna (Deemer) is going to knock down a three. Work with that. You just have to think outside of yourself and put everybody in a good position other than yourself.”
On the team’s approach to rebounding and what the coaches stressed to them…
“They rebound. That’s one thing that you have to make sure they’re not doing. If they’re going to rebound, we’re going to rebound twice as hard as they are because if you keep them off the glass. That gives us more chances to go down the court, convert and get more points on our side. I love rebounding. Regardless of how many, I’m going to get on the glass because that’s what I love to do.”
On putting together scoring runs in the second half…
“I feel like it goes back to ‘The Energy Bus.’ We all chose something we can be accountable for. We went into the first half and the second half saying, ‘I chose aggression. I have to go out there with aggression and do that.’ If everyone plays their role and we do that, everyone meshes together. Everyone has one goal, which is winning. I think that the energy and the positivity held everyone accountable and put us in the right position to win this game.”
SAM HOUSTON STATE QUOTES
HEAD COACH BRENDA WELCH-NICHOLS
Opening statement…
“I thought in the first half we came out, and we really were a little surprised that we did so well. It made us feel good and everything, but I think we have to do a better job on the boards. I think that really hurts us, and LSU did a really good job of [rebounding]. [LSU] beat us 47-24 on rebounds, and that is a big difference. Our post will have to get stronger and a little more experience under their belt. I am extremely excited about the way my team played in the first half. Second half, we have to keep building and keep working on it.”
On LSU’s press defense…
“I think the press was not anything [LSU] did. We just quit attacking it. We started fighting back and not pushing the ball forward. We only got one 10-second call. I thought that was good especially against an SEC team that should be pressing and being aggressive. I say the press was on us. We did not do our job in the second half as far as pushing the ball up, and that is just a confidence level with my young guards.”
On the performance of SHSU guard Shernise Robertson…
“I think she is going to come around and really help us as we go. I think she gave up a lot of shots, and she probably should have had more. She did not take advantage of that in the first half early on, but I am proud of what she did. She did not have the best exhibition game so she needed to have a good one tonight.”
SHSU Coach Caldwell Quotes
Opening statement …
“Much better effort on this team’s part to really come out and play with a lot of energy. It started with our defensive pressure. We were really committed to not only trying to trap out of our half court, but I thought our full court pressure really set the tone for us. Our ability to rebound the basketball really controlled the basketball really controlled the tempo of the game.”
On the energy bus …
“The energy bus is a book (volleyball) Coach Fran (Flory) has read the book. She came in and talked to the team about it. We actually came in today because I read it this morning, and I relayed everything back to the team. It’s about having a positive attitude and controlling the controllables – making sure you’re not a vampire where you are sucking the energy from your team but that you are giving energy. There is energy out there, and it can either be positive or negative. We really focused on being positive with our actions.”
On the attitude difference from game one to game two …
“I just thought yesterday, we allowed our attitude towards the game to really hinder our performance. I felt as though they had a second chance here, and we can redeem ourselves. After the game yesterday, we left it. We were not going to harp on the things we didn’t do because we made a choice not to do them. We didn’t play very well yesterday, and we cannot go through the season picking and choosing when we are going to bring our energy and enthusiasm. I just challenged them to do that, and that was the big difference between the two games.”
On forcing turnovers …
“The turnovers that we were forcing and being able to convert, that’s what gives you energy. That allows you to get that momentum, to get those runs and to be able to separate yourself. You look at this team, and we aren’t a team that is going to go out and just blow somebody out. But we can be that team that can wear them out because we are playing everybody on our roster. If we can commit to doing like Jenna (Deemer) mentioned and do your job and allow us to be able to count on that then I think we will be fine. We’ll eventually pick our spots and be able to really separate ourselves.”
On the turn around from yesterday …
“I think it’s a learning lesson for all of us. I’m learning a lot about this team this year. Can we bounce back? You always talk about after a setback, there’s a comeback. We were able to do that today. This team did a nice job, in a short period of time as far as scouting, taking what we did before in our shoot around and really making those adjustments. I thought that when you look at being able to play with 11 players and really, defensively, be able to play our fullcourt defense as long as we did. We knew that that was eventually going to take a toll, but I didn’t want it to take a toll on us, considering that we had played that way the day before. They had a toughness about them tonight. In the first half, Sam Houston State did a really nice job of just staying the course and battling through their adversity so it was going to take us wearing on them to be able to separate ourselves.”