Southeastern took an early 2-0 lead, but it was downhill from there for the Lady Lions against No. 16 LSU on Saturday.
LSU handled falling behind early by besting Southeastern by 50 points in a 97-47 rout in the PMAC. It was the highest point total and largest margin of victory for LSU this season.
The Lady Tigers (8-2) won their seventh straight contest since being blown out 83-46 by Penn State on Nov. 21. It was the fifth win this week for LSU.
LSU shot 60.6 percent from the field in the contest and 63.6 percent in the second half. Five Lady Tigers scored in double figures.
Doneeka Hodges led all scorers with 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting. With the output, Hodges moved to 15th place on LSU’s all-time scoring list, passing April Brown.
Hodges said the shots seemed to fall nicely for the Lady Tigers on Saturday.
“All of that came from us going out and executing our offense the way we’re supposed to,” Hodges said. “Whenever we do that, we’re going to get good shots and knock them down.”
Seimone Augustus added 15 points in limited action. Augustus sprained her ankle in the first half and was used sparingly the rest of the contest.
Temeka Johnson continued her recent hot hand, recording 14 points and eight assists.
LSU’s bench scoring dominated the Lady Lions, outscoring Southeastern, 40-15, in bench points. Scholanda Hoston scored 13 of those points off the bench and Treynell Clavelle added 10 points.
“I thought our bench was terrific,” said LSU coach Sue Gunter. “The play that we got out of everybody that came into the game was exactly what we as coaches hope will happen. There was no drop off – we boarded better, we executed better. When you look down the stat sheet, you realize that everybody played a minimum of 14 minutes.
“When I looked at the bench production today, I was just really thrilled with it.”
Johnson played a team-high 27 minutes in the contest, but she said the time of the bench was beneficial because the team was playing so well without her on the floor.
“We are continually growing as a team – the Richmond game helped, the Kent State game helped and the Southeastern game helped,” Johnson said. “It showed that we have a lot of depth on the bench. With me and Seimone and Doneeka out, the bench came in and did a very good job.”
LSU’s defensive intensity pressured Southeastern into 27 turnovers. LSU turned those turnovers into 49 points and limited Southeastern to 31.4 percent shooting for the game.
LSU committed only 12 turnovers in the game. Gunter said she continues to be pleased with the way the Lady Tigers are protecting the basketball.
“I think the other two stats that impress us as coaches was the fact that we only had 12 turnovers, and we had 26 assists,” Gunter said. “That’s kind of what we’ve come to be known for – the fact that we take care of the basketball, and we distribute the basketball, and we finish.”
Southeastern coach Lori Jones said she was embarrassed following the game.
“My apologies to Sue Gunter and her team,” Jones said. “We didn’t give an effort. We weren’t prepared and we weren’t focused when we walked in here, and we didn’t have a good effort.”
Southeastern guard Tish Guy led the Lady Lions with 11 points.
LSU looks to continue its win streak against Temple on Monday at 7 p.m. in the PMAC.
“I think we’re well on our way,” Gunter said. “Temple will be a very good test for us. Temple is good.”