The LSU women’s basketball team’s Tuesday night gamewith Everyone’s Internet was anything but the landslide itwas projected to be.
The traveling group of former collegiate players instead battledthe Lady Tigers to the last minute of the exhibition game, but fellshort 78-70 in the PMAC.
Everyone’s Internet led by as many as six in the game,which had 10 lead changes, and led with three minutes left in thesecond half before LSU went on a 12-3 run to end the game.
Seimone Augustus scored 28 points on 12-of-16 shooting and hadsix rebounds while playing all 40 minutes of the game. FreshmanSylvia Fowles added 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Lady Tigers.LSU put up 44 points in the paint, where Fowles had most of herpoints.
“I think Sylvia really opened it up for me,”Augustus said. “Her inside play really spread the defense andallowed me to get some open looks at the top of the key, and I wasable to drive to the basket.”
LSU coach Pokey Chatman said of the many negative aspects of thegame, the Lady Tigers’ turnovers and their inability to stopEveryone’s Internet in transition were the most glaringmistakes.
“We won’t cancel practice tomorrow,” Chatmansaid. “On a lot of fronts, it was a good basketball game forour program to measure the areas that we need to get better at. Thekids understand the mistakes, and they won’t sleep welltonight.”
With the score tied at 70, Augustus found Fowles for a lay-upand the lead at the 1:27 mark. Everyone’s Internet thenturned the ball over, and the Lady Tigers iced the game with sixmade free throws.
Fowles said she had mixed feelings about her first collegiategame. She said she was comfortable with the offense, but feels shehas a lot of work to do on defense.
“It was a big transition coming in for me getting on thefloor for the first time,” Fowles said. “[The speed] ofthe game is what I expected, but we got off to a slowstart.”
Chatman said Fowles’ numbers were good for her first game,but may parts of her game still need work.
“I think for a kid that’s been so talked about to bethrown in, she responded well in terms of being very calm,”Chatman said. “Sylvia’s a keen basketball player andunderstands there are a lot of areas where she can getbetter.”
Point guard Temeka Johnson was limited to seven points and fiveassists, but took a knee to her thigh early in the game. She saidthe injury was not serious and does not expect to miss anyaction.
“It doesn’t have anything to do with how weperformed,” Johnson said. “It wasn’t good for us.There are many things we need to work on. We’ve got toimprove on the mental aspect of the game.”
LSU shot 53.6 percent for the game but had 22 turnovers,including 15 in the first half.
The Lady Tigers led 38-34 at halftime, but struggled early.Turnovers plagued the team early, and Everyone’s Internet ledby 6 before the team rallied. Augustus did not score until nearlynine minutes into the game, but fueled a 13-0 Lady Tigers’run by scoring 11 points in a two-minute span.
Augustus said she attributed her slow start to not trying to dotoo much too soon.
“I didn’t want to rush it, I just wanted to take mytime and let the shots come to me,” Augustus said.
Felicia Ragland had 22 points for Everyone’s Internet,while former South Carolina forward Joceyln Penn had 19 points.
The Lady Tigers open the regular season against Maine Nov. 11 inthe PMAC at 7 p.m.