Usually when a player has no fouls at halftime, it’s a good sign.
But when Lady Tigers coach Pokey Chatman noticed center Sylvia Fowles didn’t have any at the half of Thursday’s 75-53 victory over Vanderbilt, she knew something was wrong.
Although Fowles was one rebound shy of her previous career-high 17 in only the first half, Chatman was not impressed with one facet of her game.
“When we were in the locker room at halftime, coach made a point to me,” Fowles said. “[Coach Chatman] said ‘You don’t have any fouls, what does that mean?’ To me it meant I didn’t play aggressive. So I had to go out there and bang.”
Senior Seimone Augustus said she recognized Fowles’ change in agression from that point on.
“She got on Sylvia a little about being aggressive on the offensive end and it worked,” Augustus said. “She came back out and looked like the most dominant player in the country.”
Fowles, who began the game 2-of-8 shooting, responded to the halftime chat with her coach by shooting 80 percent from the field in the second half. She finished with 26 points.
With a career-high 22 rebounds, Fowles became one of only four players to score at least 20 points and grab 20 rebounds in a single game – and the first since Cornelia Gayden’s in 1994.
Not only was halftime a turning point for Fowles, but the whole team responded also.
After shooting only 35 percent in the first half, the Lady Tigers went 18-of-32 in the second, shooting 56 percent in the period.
Augustus said the team also stepped up defensively after the break.
“In the second half, I think we got out in transition, and the defense really stepped up,” Augustus said. “It was a lot of flying around, getting hands on the ball, getting deflection, getting rebounds and getting down on transition offense.”
As a result, the Lady Tigers outscored Vandy 47-26 in the second half and were able to manage 14 fast-break points.
“We didn’t get open on offense and that allowed them to get a lot of easy transition buckets off of steals,” said Vanderbilt coach Melanie Balcomb.
 
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