Junior center Sylvia Fowles stole the show with her dominating performance as the LSU women’s basketball team took on Howard University on Monday in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Fowles finished the contest with her first double-double of the season after racking up 18 points and 14 rebounds in a little over a half as the No. 10 Lady Tigers (2-0) defeated the Bison (0-2), 88-44. Fowles became the 26th player in LSU women’s basketball history to score 1,000 points in a career. “I give all credit to my teammates who have given me the ball and helped me reach that point,” Fowles said. LSU coach Pokey Chatman said the accomplishment is a representation of the type of player Fowles has become, and she did not even think about what had happened. “Sylvia is a special player,” Chatman said. “It’s a great feat for her, and in my eyes this is just the tip of the iceberg as far as she is concerned. It’s a great honor. She’s in some elite company, and it’s one of those things you don’t even talk about.” Along with Fowles, the rest of the Lady Tigers opened the game by out-scoring the Bison 26-7 in the first 10 minutes of play. During this stretch LSU held Howard to just 15.4 percent from the field while shooting 45.5 percent themselves. Offensive turnovers and loose defensive play allowed the Bison to slightly close the gap until LSU freshman forward Porsha Phillips came off the bench and gave the Lady Tigers a spark, scoring eight points in nine minutes of play during the first half. A late full-court press by the Bisons in the first half did not seem to slow the Lady Tigers down. They scored 13 points in the final five minutes of play. Junior forward Ashley Thomas recorded her first points of the game after hitting a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the Lady Tigers into the half with a commanding 43-20 lead. The second half saw similar results as the Lady Tigers outscored the Bison 45-24 in the final 20 minutes of play. Junior guard Quianna Chaney and Phillips led the second-half charge, finishing with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Chaney said she had been struggling in the past few games and said she and Phillips complemented each other at the right times. “To me, as far as my shooting percentages, I think they have been off the last few games,” Chaney said. “So I challenged myself to come out and knock down my shots that I got, and Porsha was there to back me up.” The Lady Tigers controlled the boards, out-rebounding the Bison 56-27. The team defense also clamped down, holding Howard to just 25.5 percent from the field for the game. The starting five for LSU were outscored by a bench that racked up 45 points in the game, something Chatman believes is critical for the team’s success. “I was pleased with the bench,” Chatman said. “You look at the fact that they were seeing that constant pressure, and I thought they handled it very well. I thought they showed a lot of poise at times when we were up by a lot of points, when you can sometimes get away from your game plan so it was nice to see them stick to a disciplined attack on the offensive end.” Howard coach Cathy Parson said the team was outmatched and could not compete with the size and athleticism of LSU. “I give LSU tremendous credit for being as classy as they were,” Parson said. “They played hard. They played smart, and they stuck to their game plan, and the better team won.” The Lady Tigers are set to wrap up the Basketball Travelers Classic today when they take on Virginia Tech at 7:15 p.m. in the PMAC.
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