by Bill Martin, Associate Sports Information Director
BATON ROUGE -- LSU senior guard Allison Hightower poured in 20 points as the ninth-ranked Lady Tiger basketball team completed one of the most dominating performances in school history with a 92-19 victory over Centenary in the 2009-10 opener on Sunday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
LSU (1-0) won its season opener for the ninth time in 10 tries while extending its winning streak over opponents from the state of Louisiana to 28 consecutive games. The last time the Lady Tigers lost to an in-state opponent was Dec. 31, 1999, at Tulane. LSU has not lost a home game to a Louisiana team since 1995.
“I thought it was a great win,” LSU head coach Van Chancellor said. “I’m really pleased with everyone. Not every game can a coach end the game and say, ‘I liked all players, and I liked how they played.’ Swayze Black had 13 rebounds. Allison (Hightower) was good. All of them played well.”
After a sluggish start to an exhibition win on Tuesday against Loyola, LSU looked anything but that on Sunday. The Lady Tigers used an 18-0 run to outscore the Ladies, 51-9, in the first half.
A second 20 minutes when Centenary (0-2) only managed 10 points permitted LSU to claim a 73-point margin of victory, the second-largest in school history. It was the most dominating win since the Lady Tigers pummeled Prairie View by 76 points, 104-28, on Dec. 1, 1995.
LSU’s 92 points were the most since piling up 105 points versus Eastern Washington on Nov. 25, 2006.
Hightower was spectacular on both ends of the floor, tallying five assists and four steals in just 19 minutes. However, it was her perimeter game that took centerstage in the win. The 2010 Southeastern Conference Player of the Year tied a career-high with four 3-pointers and was perfect from beyond the arc.
“I told her, ‘If you ever want to make a number of years of money in the WNBA, you’re going to have to be able to shoot the three ball,” Chancellor said. “We had her go with Coach (Travis) Mays and he kind of tweaked her shot a little bit. She is the most dedicated player I’ve ever coached in every sport -- not just basketball, but in weightlifting, conditioning and the whole nine yards.”
LSU finished 10-of-17 (58.8 percent) from 3-point range while connecting on 50.8 percent (32-of-63) from the entire field. The Lady Tigers forced 33 turnovers – the most in a game since 2007 – that led to 42 points. Centenary shot just 18.2 percent (8-of-44) from the floor.
Sophomore forward Swayze Black came off the bench to grab a career-high 13 rebounds. Sophomore forward LaSondra Barrett chipped in 13 points, while junior Jasmine Nelson had nine points and four boards in her debut. Sophomore guard Destini Hughes added nine points and three steals.
LSU came out with one of its best starts in recent memory. With the score tied at two apiece, the Lady Tigers mounted an 18-0 surge in a span of 4:54 to take control of the contest. Hightower fired in a pair of 3-pointers on consecutive possessions and point guard Latear Eason converted an old-fashioned 3-point play.
Courtney Jones delivered a layup and Barrett added a jumper from the top of the key to culminate the run that put the game out of reach in the first 10 minutes. Nine LSU players scored in the first half, including freshman guard Adrienne Webb, who connected for her first career 3-pointer at the 12:29 mark that made it 24-4 in favor of LSU.
LSU took a commanding 51-9 lead into the locker room, but the Lady Tigers did not let up in the final 20 minutes. Hightower, who had 15 in the first half, was lifted with the rest of the starters prior to the first official timeout of the second half.
With a 60-11 lead, the final 17 minutes allowed several Lady Tiger reserves to see extensive action. During that time, LSU amassed a 28-2 run. Centenary managed only one field goal in the final 11 minutes with that score coming at the 2:27 mark.
Freshman guard Bianca Lutley delivered a layup, a pair of free throws and then made a 3-pointer with 6:03 left that gave LSU an 82-16 advantage. Junior guard Taylor Booze added a pair of free throws and a 3-pointer of her own that accounted for the final margin.
Centenary was led by forward Ashley Jackson, who contributed seven points and five rebounds.
The win sets the stage for one of college basketball’s ultimate early season showdowns when 24th-ranked Middle Tennessee visits the Maravich Center on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. CST tip. The Blue Raiders feature the nation’s leading returning scorer in Alysha Clark, who averaged 27.5 points per game last season.
“All I know is that we’re playing the most underrated team in the country on Wednesday night,” Chancellor said. “We’re playing a great team. I don’t know if our fans really realize how good of a team Middle Tennessee is. We’re playing a team that really causes us problems. They’re hard to guard. They have one of the best players in the whole country in Alysha Clark. She’ll be a top-three draft pick. She’s a premier player.”
For more information on LSU women’s basketball:
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Blog: http://lsuladytigerway.blogspot.com
LSU HEAD COACH VAN CHANCELLOR QUOTES
Opening statement...
“I thought it was a great win. I’m really pleased with everyone. Not every game can a coach end the game and say, ‘I liked all players, and I liked how they played.’ Swayze Black had 13 rebounds. Allison (Hightower) was good. All of them played well.”
On today’s three-point shooting...
“We set a goal to do three things. We were going to be a better offensive rebounding team. We had 14 of those. We wanted to shoot the two’s, the three’s and free throws better. We just shot the three-ball so well, 10 for 17. We shot the two-ball really, really well. We didn’t turn the ball over a lot, but we usually don’t. Two things we don’t do is we don’t turn the ball over, and we don’t give up a lot of points. We gave up nine points in one half and 10 in the other. That’s pretty consistent.”
On satisfaction on both sides of the ball...
"I thought we played well. We probably have to get better defensively against a quality team. It’s hard to say that when you don’t give up but 19 points.”
“All I know is that we’re playing the most underrated team in the country on Wednesday night. We’re playing a great team. I don’t know if our fans really realize how good of a team Middle Tennessee is. We’re playing a team that really causes us problems. They’re hard to guard. They have one of the best players in the whole country in Alysha Clark. She’ll be a top-three draft pick. She’s a premier player. She will be a real challenge. We’ve played Middle Tennessee twice, and we’ve just struggled to defend them. They made seven three’s on us in the last minutes of the game last time we played them. It’s going to be a tough game.”
“We’ve got to prove ourselves before I’m going to say we’re the ninth-ranked team in the country. One poll has us ranked No. 9, and one poll has us ranked No. 17. I think No. 17 is a little more accurate. That’s my own personal opinion, but we’ll see. I hope I’m wrong. So far we’ve been pretty good.”
On Allison Hightower’s improvement with three-point shooting...
“We told Allison that she is a great player, and she will more than likely be a pre-season Conference Player of the Year. I told her, ‘If you ever want to make a number of years of money in the WNBA, you’re going to have to be able to shoot the three ball. In the WNBA, athletes as good as you are going to clock you.’ In turn, that’s going to help her in the future, but that’s going to help LSU right now. We don’t let but one person coach shooting form. We had her go with Coach (Travis) Mays and kind of tweaked her shot a little bit.”
“Tomorrow afternoon at practice, she will be the first player on the floor. If the men’s team is not on the floor, she’ll be the last player on the floor. She will go to practice early and leave 15 minutes early and be the last player to leave just working on her three-ball. She is the most dedicated player I’ve ever coached in every sport.—not just basketball, but in weightlifting, conditioning and the whole nine yards.”
On today’s defensive game...
“I thought Latear Eason did a great job. I thought Eason played the best basketball she’s played at LSU by far. She was hustling, talking to the team and doing everything we asked her to do. She did everything I asked her to do.”
On Destini Hughes’s performance...
“I thought (Latear) Eason, (Destini) Hughes and (Taylor) Booze played extremely, extremely well. One time it looked like Booze was bouncing the air out of the ball, and once I got her to stop dribbling so much, she played very well.
On Swayze Black...
“She just needs a little bit of confidence. Black’s got everything. She just needs a little offensive confidence. Her defense and rebounding were excellent.”
LSU PLAYER QUOTES
G Allison Hightower
On if they had any nerves coming into the game ...
“Nothing really. We were really excited, and we wanted to be aggressive on offense. We wanted to prove something from last game, and I think we did.”
On what they had to prove from the exhibition ...
“We were just really flat, so we wanted to make sure we came out with a lot of energy this game.”
On what she did to improve her three-point shot ...
“It has been a long process. Finally, I knocked some down this game. I know last year I was struggling all year. This summer I worked on the three (point shot) with coach Travis (Mays) to fix my shot from winding it up and doing all these other things. When I was open I just wanted to knock it down.”
F Swayze Black
On leading the team in rebounds with 13 ...
“I just had to think like every rebound was mine. I just wanted to get every one that I could. I’m glad that we won.”
On Hightower shooting well from behind the arc ...
“It was exciting. I was really cheering for her. I know she has been working on her three (point shot) a lot.”
On if she respects Hightower for her team leadership ...
“I have nothing but respect for her. She works really hard. She’s a great leader. We just follow her lead and listen to her.”
CENTENARY HEAD COACH BOJAN JANKOVIC
Opening Statement ...
“This game will help us more than it will help LSU. LSU is out of our league; we could not compete. I think this game is going to help our young team prepare for our conference, which is a pretty good league. I’m proud of the way our girls fought, but you could see the difference in quality. As a coach I can just be proud of the way we fought. I think we can learn from this and when we start playing the teams that are at our level this game is going to help us get better. Our expectations coming into the game were just to play hard and give it everything we had, but you could see the quality difference in the end. I wish LSU all the best at the end of the season. I’m sure they can compete for the national championship with what they have this year. You can see the difference from last year. They had a great team last year, but now they are getting better. Overall, it was a great experience for me to coach against a coaching legend like Coach Chancellor is”
On if he felt his players were overwhelmed ...
“We really tried to keep our players motivated until the end. You could see their heads starting to hang after we realized the difference. I think we kept fighting though. We had four freshmen in the game a lot and I’m proud of them to compete against this type of competition. I don’t think we gave up at any moment. The difference in quality was so huge we couldn’t compete. We couldn’t answer their pressure at all. They’re longer, and we committed too many turnovers. We expected the pressure to be there, but we couldn’t break it. Our shooting percentage was awful, only 18 percent.”
