BATON ROUGE – DaShawn Harden provided a season’s best 15 points off the bench highlighted by a quartet of three-pointers as the LSU women’s basketball team battled No. 22 Rutgers to a hard-fought 64-57 decision Saturday during the program’s annual Sue Gunter Classic at the Maravich Center.
The 15 points for Harden was her fifth-highest scoring output as a Lady Tiger. She was 5-of-14 from the floor and played a major role as LSU tallied a 32-15 scoring advantage in bench points.
Playing with foul trouble for most of the game, Akilah Bethel tacked on eight points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals over her 19 minutes of action. Sheila Boykin nearly compiled her first career double-double with eight points and a career-high 11 rebounds.
Anne Pedersen collected six points and two assists, while Raigyne Moncrief chipped in five points and six rebounds. However, the duo was a combined 3-of-20 shooting.
Stephanie Amichia contributed a solid all-around effort with four points, seven rebounds and two blocks. Rina Hill and Jasmine Rhodes tallied four points each for LSU.
Ahead 52-48 at the 6:41 mark of the second half, the Scarlet Knights (3-0) used nine consecutive points over a span of 2:29 to take control of the game. The Lady Tigers used a Harden triple followed by a pair of Pedersen free throws, a Boykin layup and two Boykin free throws to trim the deficit down to seven points and the final margin of 64-57.
Rutgers had four players in double figures led by Tyler Scaife’s 16 points. Briyona Canty and Rachel Hollivay tallied 13 points each, while Betnijah Laney added a double-double with 10 points and 16 rebounds for the Scarlet Knights.
“Rutgers is a very seasoned basketball team when you look at the returning players on their roster,” head coach Nikki Caldwell said. “They obviously have a balanced attack. They have great guard play. They have strong post play. I felt as though this team competed today and that we battled. There was a stretch there in the second half that we allowed to get away from us. But for the most part if you take that segment out, this game could have gone either way. This group is young, and we have a lot more basketball ahead of us. We’re going to stay positive about the fact that where we were last week and where we were this week. Today, it was a drastic improvement on the team’s part.”
The first half was a back-and-forth affair that featured seven ties and 13 lead changes. Trailing 10-8 with 12:33 remaining, Harden fueled the Lady Tigers and buried a trio of three-pointers over the next 102 seconds to vault LSU to a 17-14 advantage.
LSU maintained its lead until the closing moments of the opening half. The Lady Tigers took a 27-26 edge on a Rhodes jumper just inside the three-point line with 1:48 to go. However, Rutgers was able to put together a 6-0 spurt to secure a 32-27 halftime lead.
The Scarlet Knights made the most of LSU playing with foul trouble on the interior as Amichia, Bethel and Ann Jones picked up two fouls apiece. Rutgers amassed a 31-18 rebounding advantage, a 24-12 margin in paint points and scored 14 of the game’s 16 second chance points in the opening stanza.
LSU ripped off an 8-2 spurt to start the second half. Hill connected on a midrange jumper from the right elbow and drove the ball through the lane for a contested left-handed layup. Pedersen added another midrange bucket from the left baseline, and Jones added a layup to put LSU up 35-34 at the 16:37 mark.
Rutgers regrouped with 10 of the next 13 points over the next 3:28 to regain a 44-38 edge. The duo of Canty and Scaife combined to notch eight of the points.
LSU got as close as three points on two separate occasions – the latest at 46-43 with 9:32 left after Bethel sank a pair of free throws.
“We’re going to have to play a lot of players because we’re still trying to learn our way,” Caldwell said. “But more importantly, we’re trying to play at a high level on the defensive end by pressing. That’s going to tire you out. We’re going to have to run those substitutions. I like the play of Stephanie Amichia coming off the bench. She’s tough, she brings a toughness. So does Alliyah Fareo. She does a nice job of just being a big presence for us. And then Sheila (Boykin), she’s very experienced so that is a nice combination of substituting with our post game. DaShawn Harden was a starter for us last year. It’s nice being able to have her come in and make some shots for us because we needed her to come in and do that. Jasmine Rhodes can make things happen when she’s in there. We’re going to have to find some time for (Jenna) Deemer because she’s a sharp shooter. We’re going to have to be able to inject her in our offense. That’s another area that we’re going to have to look at. We have to see how we can get her some more opportunities to play.”
LSU will travel to the Hardwood for Hope Tournament in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. There, the Lady Tigers will face Santa Clara (Tuesday – 2:30 p.m. CT), UTEP (Wednesday – 2:30 p.m. CT) and Kansas State (Thursday – 5 p.m. CT).
All three games will be broadcasted on The LSU Sports Radio Network via 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
LSU vs. No. 22 Rutgers – November 22, 2014
HEAD COACH NIKKI CALDWELL
Opening statement
“Rutgers is a very seasoned basketball team when you look at the returning players on their roster. They obviously have a balanced attack. They have great guard play. They have strong post play. I felt as though this team competed today and that we battled. There was a stretch there in the second half that we allowed to get away from us. But for the most part if you take that segment out, this game could have gone either way. This group is young, and we have a lot more basketball ahead of us. We’re going to stay positive about the fact that where we were last week and where we were this week. Today, it was a drastic improvement on the team’s part.”
On her frustrations from today’s game…
“It’s disheartening when you know that this team is really trying to do their best, and we’re going to get better. This experience that they are going though is only going to make them better. We’ve got to challenge ourselves to really be more disciplined offensively in some of our action. We’ve got to be better with taking care of the basketball. When you’re two possessions down with about seven minutes to go in the game, we can’t start turning the ball over and pushing the panic button. We’ve got to bring some calmness, and that may be some action that I’ve got to look at. I’m going to go back and see what play calls we were making because I want to make sure that we’re putting them in a position to be successful.”
On the turnovers…
“I think the one thing about the way that we play, we allow the ball to be manipulated by a lot of different players. We look for movement, we look for back doors, we look for handoffs, we run staggers and we run pin downs. We run a lot of different play action. The other thing too – when you’re playing a team like Rutgers, they’re a very good defensive team. They’ve always been. They’re one of the best defensive teams in the history of our game if you ask anybody who’s had to step up against them. Everybody knows their 55 defense is their full court pressure. When we turned it over, we turned it over after we had gotten an offensive rebound and then we chucked it. Those were the turnovers that really made a difference against a team like Rutgers. Turnovers are part of our game. We’ve had teams that went on to Sweet 16, and we were averaging 20-plus turnovers a game. We just want to make sure that they’re those dead ball turnovers. We can run with some of the best teams in the country, but Rutgers is one of the best running teams in the country. Those live ball turnovers are the ones where we have to go back and say, ‘Let’s replay this again.’ You got the offensive rebound, let’s get a five second call so that we can go the other way.”
On the bench players stepping up and getting a lot of playing time…
“We’re going to have to play a lot of players because we’re still trying to learn our way. But more importantly, we’re trying to play at a high level on the defensive end by pressing. That’s going to tire you out. We’re going to have to run those substitutions. I like the play of Stephanie Amichia coming off the bench. She’s tough, she brings a toughness. So does Alliyah Fareo. She does a nice job of just being a big presence for us. And then Sheila (Boykin), she’s very experienced so that is a nice combination of substituting with our post game. DaShawn Harden was a starter for us last year. It’s nice being able to have her come in and make some shots for us because we needed her to come in and do that. Jasmine Rhodes can make things happen when she’s in there. We’re going to have to find some time for (Jenna) Deemer because she’s a sharp shooter. We’re going to have to be able to inject her in our offense. That’s another area that we’re going to have to look at. We have to see how we can get her some more opportunities to play.”
On the adjustments Raigyne Moncrief can make …
“I think (Raigyne) Moncrief just needs to settle down. I think she gets rushed, and I think that she’s trying to put too much on her plate. We talked about her foot speed and her ability to get to the basket. She can do that at any time, and she’s in a different role this year. Last year, she had the assistance of Jeanne Kenney being in there with her. That’s a great leader that we just lost. Now, she’s having to step up over into that role, and she’s going to be fine. She’s going to settle in like she did at the beginning in our first couple of exhibition games. Hopefully, we’ll be able to move her to the two spot. That’s what we would like to do eventually. She’s someone who is going to play hard, and she’s going to give you everything she’s got. We just have to offensively get her in a position to be more successful. She’s our best returning guard, and she’s going to command the best defenders. She’s going to command double teams or people to rotate because she’s going to break you down. I think the thing is that she’s got to realize that there’s going to be people who are going to challenge her and challenge her at the rim now. Now, she’s going to have to be a little more creative. We’re going to have to give her the spacing, and we’re going to have to give her the player movement where she can see a gap. But if it closes down, ‘What’s my next option?’ We’re just going to have to drill that with her.
FORWARD SHEILA BOYKIN
On the team’s rebounding effort …
“Going against Rutgers, we are undersized especially compared to them. But, I feel like the size of your heart, if it’s big, you can go against anybody who’s bigger than you. It’s not just me, Stephanie Amichia went in and got some good second chances for us. Alliyah Fareo did the same. It trickles down from the first big in the starting five to the last. We all did pretty well tonight on the boards … At the end of the day, it all comes down to defense and board play. We did as a team collectively. It’s not just the bigs taking care of the bigs and guards taking care of the guards, its all of us taking care of each other. (Rachel) Hollivay was very big, as you can see, but our guards did a good job of dropping down and helping us box out. That’s what helped us adjust in the second half.”
On the team’s second half turnovers …
“They did a really good job of pressing up on us more, but we did adjust to their press. We were able to get the ball over and run our offense.”
On moving forward to the next game …
“We have to keep moving. We are going to go back and watch film and see what out deficiencies are. We have to strive for daily improvement. We have no time to sit back and feel bad for ourselves because we have more games to play.”
GUARD DASHAWN HARDEN
On the team’s offensive execution …
“We had a lot of really, really good looks. We were patient on offense, they just didn’t drop unfortunately … During that stretch where they got those steals, they weren’t pressuring as much as first. Then, they kind of started to get after it, and it shook us a bit.”
On team’s overall performance…
“Younger teams seem to play better against better competition because you love the opportunity. I think this was a really good game for us to show us that we can really play together and really play with good teams. I think it was great confidence for everyone on the team.”
On dealing with the Rutgers press…
“We just need to stay calm and stop letting them speed us up. With younger guards and not being as experienced, it’s really easy to rattle us. So, if we eventually figure out how to slow down, we’ll be fine. We have the ball-handling skills. We’re just letting them freak us out and speed us up.”