The Arkansas Lady Razorbacks must have made LSU steaming mad.
That is because the No. 6 Lady Tigers took no prisoners in its 94-54 thrashing of Florida Thursday night on the road in Gainesville, Fla.
It was the biggest margin of victory for a Southeastern Conference road game and the second largest margin of victory for any SEC game in Lady Tigers’ history.
LSU rebounded solidly from the 10-point defeat at Fayetteville, Ark., on Sunday, its only loss of the season.
Head coach Sue Gunter said she was pleased with the victory.
“All in all, I thought it was an excellent job,” Gunter said on her postgame show. “I was very pleased with our half court offense. We did a nice job [in that phase of the game]. I thought our execution was the best its been in a long time with our half-court offense.”
Ke-Ke Tardy scored 16 and reserve center Crystal White chipped in with nine points to help lead the parade for the Lady Tigers (16-1, 4-1), who took care of the lifeless Lady Gators (8-9, 0-5).
LSU shot 58 percent for the game, including 5-of-11 (45.5 percent) from 3-point range.
Tardy, making her second start of the year due to senior forward DeTrina White’s stress fracture in her right foot, and White gave head coach Sue Gunter confidence with their performances in the game. Both are expected to eat up a significant chunk of the minutes that White will be unable to fill.
Freshman forward Wendlyn Jones also helped out with seven points.
“That’s what we felt we were going to have to do,” Gunter said of the three who are helping to fill the void left behind by White. “We don’t have one person who can come in and do what DeTrina did. I thought Ke-Ke played very well.”
Center Aiysha Smith tallied 15 points and eight rebounds and the Hodges twins, Roneeka and Doneeka, combined for 20 points.
Guard Seimone Augustus contributed nine, as did point guard Temeka Johnson. All 12 players played for the Lady Tigers and all but one scored.
After allowing 82 points in its last outing, LSU held Florida to 39 percent shooting, including only 1-of-6 from 3-point range, and forced 16 turnovers.
Meanwhile, LSU efficiently handled the basketball, committing only nine turnovers and dishing out 29 assists.
The Lady Tigers did not turn the ball over for the first 10-plus minutes of the second half.
LSU used an 16-0 run sparked by suffocating defense and an active full-court press to take a commanding 29-11 lead. The run was fueled by the play of reserves Roneeka Hodges, Kisha James and White midway through the first half. LSU’s bench came through with 37 points for the contest.
“I thought our press — we got a little bit off of it,” Gunter said. “I thought when we went to our half-court defense, we did a good job of getting pressure on the ball.
“When we made our first substitutions, they really opened up the game for us.”
The Lady Tigers led 47-22 at halftime on the strength of 10 points from Tardy and a team shooting percentage of 61 percent.