LSU turned the ball over 23 times against the University of Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday night in the PMAC, but overcame the turnovers with a hot shooting performance in an 86-48 rout over its in-state rival.
No.18 LSU (4-2) shot 58.2 percent from the field and used a physical defensive effort to force 19 UL-Monroe turnovers and the fast tempo held the Lady Indians’ offense to just 29.2 percent shooting.
LSU coach Sue Gunter moved Scholanda Hoston back to the perimeter against the Lady Indians, and it paid off for the Lady Tigers.
The sophomore guard, who had been playing forward, scored a career-high 23 points, including 15 in the first half, to lead the Lady Tigers. The brief return of junior center Crystal White from a stress fracture and the continuing emergence of sophomore center Treynell Clavelle made Gunter’s decision to move Houston back to the perimeter an easier one. Although White only played 11 minutes in the contest, she said being back out there gave the team and herself a confidence boost.
“I will continue to play, it’s just my minutes will be limited — basically until January,” White said. “These next six games are really going to just get me in there, getting used to executing plays as well as getting up and down [the court].”
White said she was not in too much pain following the limited playing time against the Lady Indians.
“Right now, it’s not very painful,” White said. “On a scale of one to 10, my pain threshold is about a three.”
Clavelle recorded eight points and eight rebounds in 15 minutes of action.
“We continue to get good play out of Treynell,” Gunter said. “I like what we see with her. We’re going to need that big body. She’s getting stronger [and] she’s playing with a little more confidence.”
UL-Monroe sophomore guard Renata Dorsey led the Lady Indians with 10 points off the bench. Dorsey was the only UL-Monroe player to score in double figures.
The game saw a total of 42 turnovers and only 33 assists. Gunter said LSU’s turnover-to-assist ratio was not pretty and needs to be fixed.
“The thing that just concerns me is the turnovers,” Gunter said. “Twenty-one assists and 23 turnovers? No way, that’s not LSU. We have, for a long time, been a team that the assist to turnover ratio has always been very, very good. The thing that bothers me was that we had that many turnovers from out perimeter people who are our most experience people.”
Senior guard Temeka Johnson, who had eight assists and three turnovers in the win, said the turnover problem was nothing UL-Monroe forced on the Lady Tigers.
“I think we have a tendency to play down to our opponent’s level whenever it’s not [a Southeastern Conference] opponent,” Johnson said. “We take ourselves out of the game plan that we have. We try to do things that we didn’t prepare to do.
“There was just a lack of concentration. Of course had finals, but we can’t use that as an excuse because every school has finals.”
Now that finals are over and the Lady Tigers return to the hardwood, Gunter said December is an important month for LSU. Since the 1995-1996 season, LSU is 44-5 in December with Gunter.
“Now we can concentrate just on basketball,” Gunter said. “This next month is ours. We don’t have classes, we don’t have studies to do — we can concentrate on basketball, period.î
LSU plays again on Monday against Sam Houston State in the PMAC at 7 p.m.
No. 18 Lady Tigers rout ULM, 86-48
December 14, 2003