With a showdown against No. 5 Auburn on the horizon, LSU women’s basketball coach Van Chancellor said he was nervous his team might overlook Thursday’s opponent South Carolina.But just a few minutes into the game, Chancellor’s nerves were settled as LSU used an early spurt and dominant paint presence to hold off the Lady Gamecocks’ second-half surge to earn a 63-56 road win.”Winning a game on the road is unbelieveably a big deal,” Chancellor said in a postgame radio interview. “I don’t care where you go, how you go or what you do, a road win is a big win.”The Lady Gamecocks were without their two best scorers, senior guard Brionna Dickerson and senior forward Demetress Adams, who both sustained knee injuries last week.So without 24 points per game in its lineup, South Carolina struggled to muster offense early against LSU’s defense to allow the Lady Tigers to take an early 11-2 lead.South Carolina shot just 33 percent in the opening half and had 11 first-half turnovers.The Lady Gamecocks were forced to start a four-guard lineup without Dickerson and Adams. The Lady Tigers countered by getting the ball into freshman forward LaSondra Barrett in the post.The Jackson, Miss., native delivered for LSU, scoring 19 points and pulled down seven rebounds.”Our inside game tonight was really tough,” Chancellor said.Sophomore guard Katherine Graham played for the first time since suffering a knee injury Jan. 14 against the University of New Orleans.Graham played in only short spurts while still rehabbing from the injury.The Lady Tigers’ season leader in rebounds, assists and steals had two points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal in eight minutes Thursday, but she also showed some rust and had three turnovers.”I thought she handled the ball too much,” Chancellor said. “She did too much ball handling for a person just coming back from her leg.”Junior guard Andrea Kelly stretched LSU’s lead to 29-14 with 3:36 to play in the opening half with her 20th 3-pointer of the season.The Lady Gamecocks closed the half on a 8-2 run following Kelly’s 3-pointer to trim LSU’s lead to 31-22 at halftime.LSU went on a 10-4 run to open the second half and take a 41-26 lead.The Gamecocks continued to cut into the lead, getting as close as 57-52 with four minutes remaining.But freshman forward Taylor Turnbow scored 10 bench points and pulled down six rebounds to help the Lady Tigers hang on with senior Kristen Morris fouled out and Barrett having four fouls.The Lady Tigers return home to face No. 5 Auburn at 2 p.m. Sunday.Auburn was 20-0 on the season, but lost their first game of the season, 67-58, at Georgia on Thursday.Auburn boasts arguably the Southeastern Conference’s best  player, senior forward DeWanna Bonner, who averages 21 points and nearly nine rebounds per game.But LSU has had success defending Bonner in the past, limiting her to just 5 points per game in the teams’ past two meetings, LSU wins.Chancellor said hosting Auburn after their first loss of the season will be a challenge for the Lady Tigers. “I was hoping they’d come into town undefeated,” Chancellor said. “A lot of times when you’re undefeated, you feel good about yourself. Now, that isn’t going to happen.”——Contact Casey Gisclair at [email protected]