It did not take the No. 2 LSU women’s basketball team long to grant their coach’s wish of going 3-0 in the SEC.
Fueled by an excited crowd and explosive shooting performance from guard Doneeka Hodges, the Tigers never trailed and cruised to an 82-39 win against Kentucky. The 3-0 conference start is the first for LSU since 1998-99 and only the third ever in school history.
The win also was head coach Sue Gunter’s 400th at LSU and gives the team its best start in school history at 15-0. Gunter’s career record is 400-209 in 21 years at LSU and 666-296 overall.
“It’s great to have a team that has some experience and are mature enough to handle all the hoopla tonight,” Gunter said.
The Tigers opened the game on a fast start, with a pair of free throws by DeTrina White and two baskets from Temeka Johnson to take a quick 6-0 lead. LSU then extended the lead to 23-9 with 12:17 to play in the half.
Hodges had been struggling with her shooting for most of the season, but looked to be in the zone, scoring 24 points and hitting a career-high six of eight 3-point shots. She said the extra shooting she has done all year after practice finally paid off for her.
“I don’t know what happened, it was just rolling,” she said.
Gunter was sure Hodges would break out of her slump soon and said the team, which normally does not rely on the 3-pointer, needs more games like that from her.
“She stuck the three’s tonight,” Gunter said. “We’ve got to have that kind of perimeter shooting to do some things we want to do.”
Defensively, LSU dominated the game, holding the Wildcats to 18 points in the second half and only allowed them to score two points over the final 5:27 of the game. Kentucky shot 30 percent from the field.
“We knew they were going to come out really energized,” Kentucky head coach Bernadette Mattox said. “They came out and poured it on.”
The Tigers specifically had success against Kentucky’s ball screens at the top of the key. Wildcat guard Rita Adams said LSU’s pressure on those screens often forced turnovers because the Wildcat players did not come around the screen hard enough.
“On almost everything Kentucky wanted to do, we had an answer for it,” Gunter said.
White, who scored 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds, managed to grab six steals by jumping into the passing lane.
Mattox said of all the Top 25 teams she has seen this year, LSU is by far the best.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that they are the No. 1 team in the country,” she said. “Their first 10 (players) can start for anybody.”
Seimone Augustus had 16 points and Johnson added eight points and seven assists to help LSU. Jenny Pfeiffer led UK in scoring with nine points.
LSU travels to Arkansas to take on the No. 10 Razorbacks on Sunday at 4 p.m. on ESPN. Gunter said the game will be her team’s biggest test of the year.
“That’s what it’s all about,” she said. “It’s not going to get any easier when we go to some of the other places we have to go.”