“Enjoy the moment, and kick butt,” said former LSU center Sylvia Fowles in a pregame ceremony.
The LSU women’s basketball team beat the Southeastern Lions 84-56 in the home opener on Sunday.
Before the game, the team retired Fowles’ No. 34 jersey in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
Fowles is the reigning WNBA MVP for the Minnesota Lynx and was a two time consensus all-American at LSU. Her senior class led the Lady Tigers to four consecutive Final Fours.
Fowles was the 2008 Southeastern Conference Most Valuable Player and is a three time Olympic Gold Medalist. Fowles is fifth all-time in scoring for LSU and is the second player to get her jersey retired by the Lady Tigers, joining Lynx teammate Seimone Augustus.
Fowles remains the leading rebounder and blocker in Lady Tigers’ history.
“I just want the fans to know your love and support has not gone unnoticed,” Fowles said. “My teammates molded me into who I am today. Thank you for giving me this honor.”
LSU started slowly after the retirement ceremony, giving up five turnovers during first 5 minutes of the game. The Lady Tigers allowed the Lions to shoot 5-for-8 from the three point line during the quarter and fell behind 17-15 at the end of the first quarter.
Southeastern continued to knock down threes to start the second quarter, expanding its lead to eight before the Lady Tigers surged back to take the lead with a dominant 26-3 run to close the half.
LSU’s resurgence was powered by junior guard Raigyne Louis, who had 13 points, 7 assists, 4 steals, and 3 rebounds in the first half.
“Our team is learning at very quick pace,” coach Nikki Fargas said. “Southeastern gave us their best shot, they came at us with their A game. In the first part of the game, they did not show any fear. We were challenged to pick up our defensive intensity.”
LSU continued to pull away in the third quarter as the Lady Tigers outscored Southeastern 29-16.
LSU slowed down in the fourth with the game in control to close out the game, but held Southeastern scoreless from behind the arc.
Southeastern started 7-of-10 from behind the arc, but LSU slowed them to 2-of-13 to end the game.
In the spirit of Fowles, LSU owned the paint with a 36-16 edge in points in the paint and a 44-23 lead in rebounds, with 20 offensive rebounds.
“I think we did her proud,” Fargas said. “The one thing you can take from her, is that she never takes it easy. We did a nice job rebounding on the offensive end, but we were crashing the boards. It was not just by our bigs, our guards were also trying to get in there and get some offensive putbacks and extra possessions. I was proud of that effort, as well.”
Senior guard Raigyne Louis had a double double with 21 points, 10 assists, 6 rebounds and 5 steals. She was joined in double figures by junior guard Chloe Jackson with 18 points and sophomore forward Ayana Mitchell added 15 points.
Louis’s 10 assists was a career high, surpassing her previous high of 9 against Southeastern in 2015
“I was just trying to get the ball to my teammates, if they were open,” Louis said. “We have a lot of weapons, offensively, and they knocked down shots. They made the game easier for me.”
