Talk about a complete victory.
Twelve members of the LSU women’s basketball team scored on Tuesday night — five of them in double figures — as No. 5 LSU (8-0) blew past Houston Baptist (2-8), 93-31, in the second game of the inaugural Sue Gunter Classic in the PMAC. The event is named in honor of former LSU coach Sue Gunter, who coached the Lady Tigers from 1982-2004 and won 442 games with the program.
North Carolina A&T (4-4) beat Louisiana-Lafayette (2-7), 95-78, in the first game of the Classic. LSU will face North Carolina A&T at 7 p.m. tomorrow in the championship game in the PMAC after ULL faces Houston Baptist in the consolation game.
“This is a complete win by the Lady Tigers,” said LSU coach Van Chancellor. “We played well on both ends by all 12 players. We should have won by that margin, and we did win by that margin. When you do what you’re supposed to then that’s good.”
The LSU defense was stifling once again, holding Houston Baptist to 26.5 percent shooting for the game. The Lady Tigers also forced 28 turnovers and picked up a season-high 21 steals while limiting the Huskies to six assists.
“It’s hard to completely shut down a team,” said LSU junior guard Latear Eason. “We knew they would score at some point. We gave great effort on the defensive end tonight.”
The rout was on early for LSU, as the Lady Tigers led, 14-0, after a little more than five minutes of play. Four different Lady Tigers scored in that run.
Houston Baptist didn’t score its first points until a layup by sophomore guard Racquel Jones with 14:01 left to play in the first half. The Lady Tigers led 16-2 at that point.
“Everybody on that team is an athlete, and that’s the kind of thing we tried to translate in our practices,” said HBU coach Todd Buchanan. “We couldn’t make a shot, it profoundly made our defense that much more difficult. We couldn’t set up any kind of containment press.”
LSU didn’t do so bad offensively, either. The Lady Tigers shot 53.4 percent from the floor one game after shooting a dismal 34.9 percent. LSU also dominated Houston Baptist on the glass, 53-25.
Eason and sophomore forward Taylor Turnbow led LSU with 12 points each, and 10 of Turnbow’s points came by halftime. Senior guard Allison Hightower, sophomore forward Courtney Jones and junior guard Erica Williams were the other double-figure scorers for LSU, picking up 10, 10 and 11, respectively.
All 12 Lady Tigers who dressed out played at least 13 minutes in the game, and all 12 picked up at least two points and one rebound. Only one player, freshman guard Adrienne Webb, didn’t record a steal.
“We played a great game the other night — the last time we played — and just putting two games together and playing well is what we’re working for,” Turnbow said.
Chancellor and Buchanan have a personal relationship that goes back to the days when Chancellor coached the Houston Comets of the WNBA and Buchanan was an assistant coach at the University of Houston.
Buchanan said he chose to play in this event because of that relationship.
“Coach [Chancellor] has been like another dad to me,” Buchanan said. “I just wish dad hadn’t whipped me so hard today.”
BOOZE OUT FOR SEASON
LSU was without junior guard Taylor Booze, who injured her knee Sunday against the University of New Orleans. Chancellor announced in a news release before the game started that Booze will miss the rest of the season.
Booze was averaging 2.4 points and 12 minutes per game this season.
“You never want to see a player go down like that and our team feels for Taylor,” Chancellor said in the release. “We know she will work hard in her rehab efforts and get back to the court as soon as possible. She’s a great teammate and person. We look forward to her return in a Lady Tiger uniform.”
Booze will undergo ACL surgery some time after Christmas break, according to the release.
 
—-Contact Robert Stewart at [email protected]