For the first four games of the season, LSU coach Van Chancellor wanted freshman point guard Destini Hughes slow down and let the game come to her.In the second half of LSU’s game against Texas Southern on Monday night, Hughes finally settled into the offense and scored 14 points to spark a 61-30 Lady Tigers’ win.”There’s been a real push to get her to play within herself,” said LSU coach Van Chancellor. “Quit trying to do so much.”The Lady Tigers stumbled out of the gate offensively but rolled to an early 11-5 lead midway through the first half thanks to dominant defense. LSU utilized a full-court pressure defense for most of the first half and forced 12 turnovers and held Texas Southern to just 23 percent shooting.”They gave us fits with their press,” said Texas Southern coach Yolanda Wells-Broughton.Wells-Broughton was coaching in just her fourth game as a head coach after spending last season as an assistant at LSU.”I tripped walking out to the court,” she said. “I tried to stay in the locker room as long as possible to get rid of some of the butterflies.”LSU’s offense also had jitters for the first 20 minutes, and the Lady Tigers shot just 33 percent, led by sophomore guard Katherine Graham’s six points.Graham left the game with an arm injury just minutes into the game but returned with eight minutes to play in the half to boost the struggling LSU offense to a 21-15 halftime lead.Hughes’ hot shooting added offense to LSU’s dominant defense the second half, and LSU went on a 17-2 run in the first eight minutes of the half to put away the game.The Fort Worth, Texas, native made three 3-pointers in the half for the Lady Tigers.Hughes said she was uneasy shooting the ball in the first half because Chancellor wanted the Lady Tigers to get the ball into the post.”I didn’t want to rush anything, because I wanted to get the offense going,” she said. “I knew I could get those shots later.”The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Lady Tigers.LSU lost 57-48 to No. 25 Xavier last Wednesday despite the first double-double of Hightower’s career.The Arlington, Texas, native scored 15 points and pulled down 11 rebounds against the Musketeers, but it was not enough as Xavier went on an 8-0 run in the final five minutes of the game to seal the win.The Lady Tigers were defeated 79-75 by Middle Tennessee four days later thanks to an offensive outburst by Blue Raiders guard Alysha Clark, who scored 37 points on 14-of-20 shooting.The loss marked the second straight season LSU lost to the Blue Raiders as the Lady Tigers lost, 67-56, to Middle Tennessee last season.Chancellor said with 14 days until their next game, the Lady Tigers still have plenty of work to do if they want to be prepared for Southeastern Conference play.”There isn’t anything that we don’t need to work on,” he said. “But we’ll get there.”—-Contact Casey Gisclair at [email protected]