The return of junior guard Danielle Ballard brought rhythm and energy to the LSU women’s basketball team, propelling the Lady Tigers to a 64-44 win against Vanderbilt on Thursday night.
Ballard, who was indefinitely suspended from game action before the season began, made her first appearance for the Lady Tigers (8-7, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) against Vanderbilt (8-7, 0-3 SEC) after her suspension was lifted by LSU coach Nikki Caldwell earlier Thursday.
“[Ballard is] the one who brought us the energy,” said sophomore guard Raigyne Moncrief. “I know I was hyped coming into the game because of her. Just the little things she does, like push tempo. I was just glad to have her back, even if she didn’t as much. I know when the time comes, she will explode…She did well today.”
Although Ballard finished the night with only four points in 11 minutes of action, the difference she made was clear on both ends of the floor from the early going.
Senior guard DaShawn Harden set the tone early by taking a steal the length of the floor and finishing with a floater less than a minute into the first half. In the first half, seven of the eight turnovers the Lady Tigers forced came off steals, which LSU translated into 12 points.
“That’s the type of game coach Caldwell wanted,” Harden said. “We wanted to force steals, put pressure on their guards and make things happen.”
The pressure shut down Vanderbilt’s offense in the first half by stifling the Commodores’ leading scorers. Junior forward Heather Bowe, freshman forward Khaléann Caron-Goudreau and redshirt freshman Rebekah Dahlman led the Commodores in scoring, with each averaging more than 10 points per game.
In the first half, the trio shot a combined 0-for-7 from the field and tallied only a single free throw.
“They did a nice job of supporting each other from a defensive standpoint,” Caldwell said. “Our ability to disrupt a very good offensive team was the key for us.”
In the second half, the Lady Tigers pushed the pace of the game on both ends by creating turnovers on defense and using quick passes to create an efficient offense by finding open players.
LSU’s defense came out in the second half playing more aggressively and employed a full-court press, which allowed the Lady Tigers to create more turnovers.
In the first half, LSU’s defense allowed Vanderbilt an average of 20 seconds per possession and created only eight turnovers. In the second half, the Lady Tigers cut the Commodores possessions to only 16 seconds apiece and were able to produce 16 turnovers.
“We were able to disrupt their rhythm offensively by not allowing them to have a full shot clock,” Caldwell said. “I knew we had the depth to do so because we’ve been playing ten people and we needed to really get back to working extremely, hard and we did so on the defensive end.”
In the second half, the Lady Tigers were able to effectively translate turnovers into points. LSU scored 17 points off its 16 forced turnovers.
Part of the success offensively came from the Lady Tigers ability to finish on fast breaks. LSU tallied a season-best 10 points off fast breaks against Vanderbilt.
“We are a transition team so that is what where we get our points,” Moncrief said. “We capitalized on the steals and the fast-break chances. We tried to play smart off of that and not take any bad shots.”