No. 17 LSU stunned Arizona early and never looked back, cruising to a 76-66 victory on Sunday in the PMAC.
LSU got the win without the presence of coach Sue Gunter, who missed the game due to illness. Assistant coaches Pokey Chatman and Bob Starkey filled in for Gunter on the sideline.
But the distraction of not having Gunter on the sideline coupled with the football team playing in the national championship did not affect the Lady Tigers. LSU used a 10-0 run to open the contest and finished strong.
The two teams traded baskets after LSU took the early lead, and the Lady Tigers extended the lead to 12 at halftime, 39-27.
The Lady Tigers shot 41.5 percent for the game, but held the Wildcats to 39.4 percent shooting. LSU forced 20 turnovers in the game.
The Lady Tigers contained Arizona’s main post player Shawntinice Polk. Polk, a 6-foot-5 center from Hanford, Calif., averaged 17.5 points and nine rebounds per game. But Polk picked up three fouls in the first half and a fourth foul early in the second that sent her to the bench.
Polk still managed a double-double in the contest, scoring 14 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Chatman said attacking Polk in the post was the key to containing her.
“We had about two or three days to work on it,” Chatman said. “The big thing was to attack her and try to get a hand on the basketball. She had three turnovers, and I just remember they were at costly times. She’s a load to move, [and] we did a good job of battling with her.”
Arizona guard Dee-Dee Wheeler led all scorers with a season-high 25 points.
Seimone Augustus torched Arizona for the second time in her short career with 22 points. Last season, Augustus scored a career-high 27 points in her first game as a Lady Tiger against the Wildcats in Tucson.
“I just like competitive games, and that is what Arizona gives us every time we play them,” Augustus said. “They are very competitive.”
The Wildcats played zone defense against the Lady Tigers for the majority of the game. Doneeka Hodges connected on 4-of-7 3-pointers in the game to beat Arizona’s zone from the outside, while Wendlyn Jones came off the bench to give LSU 15 points in the paint.
“Most of that came from execution,” Hodges said. “We came out and ran our offense well and I was hoping I could knock the shot down.
“They played zone. We just had to make adjustments. If the 3-point shot wasn’t there, we had to look to do something else. We just executed well and got good shots.”
Hodges finished with 18 points. Jones’ 15 points tied a career-high and was her highest total this season.
“I felt good,” Jones said. “I’ve just been trying to break out, and trying to work as hard as I can trying to get back where I was [before the injury]. I was just trying to play hard, just trying to execute, just trying to finish, just trying to help my teammates out.”
With the victory, LSU (12-2) extended its win streak to 11 games while the Lady Tigers snapped Arizona’s 10-game winning streak.
LSU returns to action on Sunday at Auburn to begin Southeastern Conference play.