For the past three weeks, No. 8 LSU has dominated its opponents from start to finish en route to six straight blowout wins. Thursday night against South Carolina, the Lady Tigers (17-3, 6-0) continued the trend, dominating the second half after a slow start in a 67-37 win. The Gamecocks (11-10, 0-6) broke LSU’s streak of more than 240 minutes without trailing after taking a 6-4 lead with 16 minutes to play in the first half. “I didn’t think we played with the enthusiasm and intensity we could play with [early],” said LSU coach Van Chancellor. “I just thought we ought to pick it up a notch, and we did.” The Lady Tigers started sluggish from the field, making just four of their first 11 shots as South Carolina played LSU to a 10-10 tie with 11 minutes to play in the first half. “I was pleased with our team’s effort in the first half,” said South Carolina coach Susan Walvius. “We knew it would be a low scoring game. We knew we’d have difficulty scoring, but I thought we did a good job defensively in the first half.” The Lady Tigers closed the first half strong, ending on a 21-10 run to take a 31-20 halftime lead. Senior forward Quianna Chaney scored nine of her team-high tying 14 points in the first half, hitting two 3-pointers late in the half to help LSU extend its lead. Sophomore Allison Hightower helped spark the Lady Tigers’ surge off the bench with seven first half points. The Gamecocks’ tandem of senior Ilona Burgova and junior Demetress Adams limited LSU All-American center Sylvia Fowles to just six points and four rebounds in the first 20 minutes. “What [South Carolina] did was put one defender in front of her and one defender behind her,” Chancellor said. “I was amazed we even got her the ball. I thought they were going to just take that away.” LSU attacked the paint early in the second half, drawing three early second-half fouls on Burgova sending her to the bench with more than 17 minutes to play. In the first five minutes, South Carolina’s 6-foot-6-inch center was on the bench, LSU went on a 19-4 run to end any Gamecocks’ comeback attempt. Fowles and senior forward Ashley Thomas took advantage of the Gamecocks’ interior foul trouble, scoring 12 combined second-half points. Thomas finished the game with eight points and three rebounds after tweaking her shooting form in practice this week. “All this week I’ve been working on holding my follow through,” Thomas said. “I watched film and realized that when I missed my shots, I was short-arming them and when I made them, I was following through. I was just concentrating on that.” With Burgrova back on the floor for the final nine minutes, the Lady Tigers’ reserves continued the onslaught, extending the lead to 36 points with three minutes to play. Adams led the Gamecocks with 15 points. With the win, LSU has won eight straight games and 13 of 14 overall since suffering early season losses at Maryland and Rutgers. Chancellor said the Lady Tigers are a better team than they were in non-conference play. “When we played Maryland and Rutgers, we had no idea of what I was trying to accomplish offensively,” Chancellor said. “We have improved as much as you can humanly improve in how we’re shooting the ball.”
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