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BATON ROUGE—The 22nd-ranked LSU women’s basketball team gave No. 14 Notre Dame all it could handle on Sunday afternoon, but the Fighting Irish used a 10-0 run down the stretch to defeat the Lady Tigers, 62-53, in the first game of the State Farm Tip-Off Classic at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
LSU (0-1) saw its eight-game winning streak in season-openers come to an end and lost for only the fourth time in the past four-plus seasons at home. LSU honored its 2008 NCAA Final Four appearance prior to the contest by hoisting another banner in the rafters of the building.
“I think we played a great game,” LSU head coach Van Chancellor said. “Notre Dame just did a little better job of executing than LSU. I thought our bench tonight did a great job. I thought Swayze Black did an outstanding job. I thought Courtney Jones and Taylor Turnbow were pretty good as well.”
The Lady Tigers welcomed five new starters and seven true freshmen saw their first career action. Meanwhile, the Irish (1-0) returned a veteran club that featured 2008 All-Big East honorable mention guards Ashley Barlow and Lindsay Schrader.
Barlow led all scorers with 19 points, including 14 points in the second half. LSU was led in scoring by junior Andrea Kelly, who finished with 10 points and was a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line.
True freshmen Taylor Turnbow and Courtney Jones each chipped in nine points, and sophomore guard Katherine Graham pulled down a game-high nine rebounds. In all, LSU true freshmen contributed 31 of the Lady Tigers’ 53 points in their first collegiate action.
“I think we will get better,” Chancellor said. “We opened up against a solid team today. This was a real test for a young team to go up against a veteran team. This showed us where we need to work. I thought our inexperience showed up today.”
Both teams shot below 37 percent, and the Irish held a slim advantage on the boards. LSU trailed by as many as nine points in the first half before rallying to tie the score at 24 apiece at halftime. Junior guard Allison Hightower started the comeback with a jumper at the 7:27 mark.
Sophomore guard LaTear Eason then lifted the crowd to its feet when she picked up a steal, buried a jumper to cut the deficit to two while freshman Taylor Turnbow knotted the game at 18 on a turnaround shot. Eason gave the Lady Tigers their first lead at the 4:46 mark in the first half on a running jump shot, 18-16.
However, the Irish responded out of the locker room with a 14-4 run that saw the lead extend to double-digits at 59-48 on a made basket by Barlow with 16:41 remaining. LSU once again sliced into the lead and came as close as three points when Hightower stole a pass at midcourt and drove to the basket for the easy lay-up.
Notre Dame led 43-40 with 9:39 to play, and the Irish put together another run midway through the second half to put the game out of reach with 10 unanswered points. Devereaux Peters and Schrader, who combined for 25 points, contributed eight points in the final 8:02.
The Lady Tigers cut the deficit to under double-digits on a pair of free throws by Kelly, but LSU was held scoreless from the field in the final 2:06 that preserved the Irish victory.
No. 10 Texas A&M (2-0) held off No. 22 Pittsburgh (0-1) in the second game of the doubleheader, 56-50, behind 13 points from Tyra White. A&M’s Damitria Buchanan grabbed 13 rebounds and added nine points.
Pittsburgh’s Shavonte Zellous scored a game-high 23 points and knocked down 14-of-16 from the free throw line. The 14 made free throws were four shy of a Maravich Center record.
The Lady Tigers return to non-conference action on Monday, Nov. 24 as LSU takes on Tulane at 7 p.m. CST in the Maravich Center.
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