LSU received a big scare in last night’s tilt against Kent State, but it did not come from the opponent as the Lady Tigers ripped the Golden Flashes 73-49 in the www.WOMENSCOLLEGEHOOPS.com Classic.
With 10:13 to play in the second half, LSU sophomore forward Seimone Augustus limped off the court with an injury to her right knee. A Kent State player fell on Augustus’ knee as she hustled for a loose ball.
The PMAC went silent as Augustus lay on the court in pain. Minutes later, she was helped off the court and into the locker room by LSU trainers. Augustus returned to the bench near the end of the game with her knee wrapped in ice.
After the game, Augustus confirmed the injury was not serious. The preliminary prognosis is a bruised knee.
“I was nervous,” Augustus said. “It was hurting at the moment.”
Augustus said she plans on playing in tonight’s game against Richmond. The Spiders defeated Arkansas State earlier in the day, 76-56, to advance to the championship game against LSU.
LSU coach Sue Gunter said team doctors will look at Augustus’ knee today and said Augustus will be a game-time decision. Gunter said the only two things going through her mind at the time were fear and terror.
“She’s OK though,” Gunter said. “She’s a tough kid.
“I’m a little bit antsy anyway, seems like I’m punch-drunk when it comes to injuries right now. Certainly, when you see any of them go down it frightens you. Seimone is very, very resilient. I think she’s got a bruised knee, but we’ll check it out.”
Augustus led the team in scoring with 18 points on 8-of-17 shooting. LSU had the game in hand at the time of her injury, leading the Golden Flashes 56-38.
LSU ran away with the game at the end of the first half. The lead changed hands four times in the first half and was tied nine times. But the Lady Tigers went on a 13-3 run to finish the first half.
The Lady Tigers continued to run into the second half, scoring the first six points.
Four Lady Tigers scored in double figures in the contest. Point guard Temeka Johnson recorded 13 points to go with eight assists. Doneeka Hodges scored 13 points also and chipped in with seven rebounds. Scholanda Hoston came off the bench to score 10 points, seven coming after Augustus’ knee injury.
Kent State center Andrea Csaszar, who was averaging 15.4 points per contest, led the team with 17 points. Coming into the game, Kent State was 3-0 when Csaszar matched or bettered her season scoring average.
“They [LSU] did a good job, at times, of stopping her,” said Kent State coach Bob Lindsay. “They tried to double her off the weak side wing. They did a good job at that. I thought we did a good job at holding Csaszar down, too.”
Forward Lindsey Shearer added 15 points and seven rebounds for Kent State.
LSU turned the ball over only 13 times in the contest. The last two games against UL-Monroe and Sam Houston State, the Lady Tigers turned the ball over 23 and 18 times, respectively.
Gunter said she was happy with the effort LSU took to protect the basketball.
“I liked the turnover to assist ratio a little bit better than we have in the past,” Gunter said. “I thought we carried out the game plan perhaps the best that we have done this year, period.”
Johnson seemed relieved with the lack of turnovers on the team’s part.
“We knew that we were turning the ball over too much,” Johnson said. “We basically just talked to ourselves and made a pact with ourselves that we were going to take care of the ball.
“I’m happy that we won. The most important thing is that we came together and we communicated, and we did the little things that we needed. We’re getting better and better each game, and that’s a plus.”
LSU takes on Richmond at 7 p.m. in the PMAC tonight. The game is preceded by the consolation game between Arkansas State and Kent State.