Associate coach Pokey Chatman said a point of emphasis this season for the Lady Tigers basketball team has been finishing games off.
The Lady Tigers received the message in their 82-62 victory over South Carolina Sunday in the PMAC.
LSU used a 32-15 run over the final 10 minutes to close out the game and secure their fifth Southeastern Conference win of the year.
The key for LSU (17-3, 5-1) was their ability to dominate the inside, outscoring the Lady Gamecocks (9-10, 0-6) 46-28 in the paint.
“We always talk about points in the paint, but that does not always mean that the post players are going to score those points,” Chatman said.
Forwards Wendlyn Jones and Hanna Biernacka supplied the interior scoring for LSU.
Jones earned her second straight double-double, with 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Biernacka pulled down six rebounds and scored 10 points.
LSU led by only six at the break, but came out firing in the second half shooting 69 percent from the field.
Sophomore forward Seimone Augustus led the charge for the Lady Tigers in the second half. Augustus scored 13 of her 17 points in the half.
“I don’t know if [Augustus] feels the tug from her teammates or the encouragement from her coaches,” Chatman said about Augustus’ late-game scoring.
In the process of her second half spree Augustus made her school-record 30th consecutive free throw. The shot broke her previous record of 29 straight from earlier this season.
Scholonda Hoston said LSU’s deeper bench and ability to run the floor through their athletic ability contributed to the tiring of USC late in the game, spawning the 32-15 run. Hoston came off the bench to score 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting.
The Lady Gamecocks kept the game close in the first half through impressive 3-point shooting and a strong perimeter defense.
USC was able to hit on 5-of-8 three pointers in the first half while holding LSU’s big three — Augustus, Temeka Johnson and Doneeka Hodges — to only seven points.
The big three were able to break out in the second half by scoring a combined 24 points during their late game run.
Augustus said a second half LSU pressure defense shut out USC from behind the arc, but opened up more driving lanes for the Lady Gamecocks perimeter players.
“They had a lot of shooters out there and we really could not help out as much as we wanted to,” Augustus said. “So they got a lot of nice drives throughout the game.”
Coach Sue Gunter missed her fifth game in the past month as she is trying to recover from bronchitis and viral infection.
“This is just something I need to do to get better so I can be 100 percent,” Gunter said. “I need to be at full strength for myself and this team, but I have no doubt in what my staff and this team can do without me on the bench.”
The Lady Tigers now go on the road for two straight Southeastern Conference games, beginning Thursday night in Tuscaloosa as they take on Alabama.