Led by freshman Sylvia Fowles, the No. 2 LSU women’s basketball team snapped a two-game losing streak to Vanderbilt by knocking off the Lady Commodores 79-68 Sunday in Nashville, Tenn.
Fowles, who finished with 22 points and four rebounds, scored 20 in the second half as LSU (18-1, 5-0 Southeastern Conference) won its fifth straight.
LSU’s last lost and first of the season came last month at Rutgers.
LSU coach Pokey Chatman said she was pleased with winning on the road.
“For the most part our kids competed at a high level,” Chatman said. “Coming into this building and with Vanderbilt coming off a loss, we are extremely pleased with how the kids performed.”
Once again, the Lady Tigers defense proved strong in holding the Vanderbilt offense to its worst shooting performance of the year. The Lady Commodores shot just 39.7 percent from the field.
Senior Ashley Earley said Vanderbilt could not get its offense going against LSU.
“We didn’t do a good job of executing our offense,” said Earley after the game. “We’ve lost three games in a row; we’re out there running around and not running our offense.”
In the prior three games the LSU defense held Florida, Alabama and Arkansas to under 30.0 percent shooting.
Junior Seimone Augustus added 20 points and five rebounds in the win.
After LSU led by as much as 14 in the first half, the most Vanderbilt pulled within was seven points. LSU headed into the lockeroom with a 36-27 lead.
LSU opened the second half with an 11-4 run, giving the Lady Tigers a 47-31 lead with a little more than 14 minutes left to play.
Vanderbilt (13-5, 2-3 SEC) could not cut the lead down but to ten after Earley earned a three-point play with just under seven minutes left.
Following a 7-0 run by LSU and two free throws by senior Tillie Willis, the Lady Tigers earned their biggest lead of the game at 74-56.
Willis finished with four points and nine rebounds.
Vanderbilt coach Melanie Balcomb credited LSU’s defense with causing confusion on the Vanderbilt offense.
“We shot poorly because we hesitated on offense from the high post to the 3-point line,” Balcomb commented after the loss. “Sometimes we looked confused and that can’t happen against a team like LSU.”