EUGENE, Ore. — Twenty-five defensive rebounds, three blocked shots, 58.8 percent shooting and 20 Southwest Texas turnovers propelled LSU past the Bobcats, 86-50, Saturday night in the first round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.
With the win, the No. 1 seeded Lady Tigers will face the eight seed University of Wisconsin-Green Bay in the second round tonight at 10:30 CST. UWGB (28-3), the Horizon League champions, defeated No. 9 seed University of Washington, 78-65, in the first game of the first round Saturday night.
Pleased by LSU’s performance against Southwest Texas (18-14), LSU head coach Sue Gunter said defense got the Lady Tigers’ game rolling.
“It seems like when we defend well, it opens us up; it gets our transition game going; it gets our running game going,” Gunter said. “So it worked real well tonight.”
The win marked LSU’s second defeat of Southwest Texas this season, having beat the Bobcats in Baton Rouge on Dec. 21, 91-40.
After two weeks without playing a game, Gunter said the team showed a little bit of rust.
“We needed to play,” Gunter said. “They [the players] were chomping at the bits to get out and play.”
LSU (28-3) lead 10-9 early in the first half before building a 47-25 half time lead.
The Lady Tigers’ largest lead was 38 points.
Coming off the bench, junior forward Roneeka Hodges led the Lady Tigers with 16 points, one of four Lady Tigers in double digits.
Freshman guard Seimone Augustus scored 11 points in her NCAA Tournament debut, also adding four rebounds and two steals.
Aiysha Smith and junior guard Temeka Johnson rounded out the players in double digits with 15 and 10 points, respectively.
While two weeks without playing may have made most of the team rusty, Gunter said senior forward DeTrina White probably benefitted most from the time off.
“She’s getting closer to what she was before she got hurt the second time,” Gunter said. “She played with a lot more confidence. It is nice to have her back at full steam.”
White scored nine points and grabbed one rebound for LSU.
Gunter said the win was a “good effort” but is looking ahead.
“Just glad we got that one, we can put it to bed and get ready for Monday,” Gunter said. “The regular season is over and done with, and it truly is a second season. You want to play six more games; you want six more wins.”