The eighth-ranked Tigers of LSU came to the Colonial Life Arena tonight for the SEC opener for both teams and administered something of a beat-down to the Gamecocks. It really wasn't as close as the 12-point final margin or as the final statistics make it look.

The Gamecocks actually did out-rebound the Tigers and stayed mighty close in field goal percentage(LSU 42%, USC 39%) which is usually a good thing. The Tigers hit only two more field goals than the Gamecocks, but they hit 5 of 8 3-point attempts (to only 3 of 12 by USC) and made good on 17 of 23 free throw chances, while the Gamecocks had only 14 free throw attempts--though they hit 11 of those, for one of their better showings of the season. But the Tigers had 11 steals, 8 blocked shots and only 8 turnovers, while USC had only 3 steals, 2 blocked shots and turned the ball over 17 times.

LSU played a very physical game on both ends of the court and benefitted from poor eyesight on the part of the officiating crew. Perhaps in future games, the referees will get clued in to the nifty little pushoff move that junior guard LaTear Eason utilized to great advantage. It was certainly not difficult for the fans in the stands to see, as on a couple of occasions, she shoved her defenders nearly out of bounds with a quick (but not so subtle) hand movement. It is almost beyond belief that senior guard Allison Hightower could play a 40-minute game, handling the ball on every possession and playing very active defense in such a physical game and never be whistled for a personal foul. I'm just sayin'...

I could mention a lot more examples, such as a sudden flurry of inexplicable travelling calls against Kelsey Bone--strangely enough, these occurred not long after she had made a few nice moves to the basket, dribbling in a small arc to position herself for a short shot, which was successful. But this is not a column about poor officiating, it's a game summary. So I'll shut up about the refs--for now.

As is often the case, Hightower led all scorers with 23 points, sophomore forward LaSondra Barrett added 16 and Eason added 14 points. Sophomore forward Taylor Turnbow led her team in rebounds with 9. South Carolina's freshman center Kelsey Bone led all rebounders with 12 for the game.

The Gamecocks never really got into offensive gear, despite some runs and some nice plays. The Tiger defense made them work much harder than normal to set up a simple shot and junior guard Valerie Nainima, USC's leading scorer, had a Tiger in her jersey the entire first half, preventing her from finding any kind of rhythm and usually keeping her from even getting a decent look at the basket. However, Nainima led the Gamecock scoring with 13 points, well below her average, while Bone added 9 points and sophomores Charenee Stephens and LaKeisha Sutton each added 8 points.

 

The Gamecocks have another tough test coming up on Thursday night, as they travel to Knoxville to face the Lady Vols for their next SEC contest.