Louisiana State Fights for 66-54 Road Win

For the second time in four days, top-ranked Louisiana State passed a difficult road test.

Seimone Augustus scored 19 points and the Lady Tigers fought off a second-half charge by Southwest Missouri State with a late 16-0 run in a 66-54 victory in the Triple Crown Classic on Saturday at Springfield, Mo.

“It was the perfect game for us,” LSU Coach Pokey Chatman said. “What an environment to play in. You can’t mimic this.”

LSU (10-0) followed up a 75-67 victory at No. 13 Minnesota on Tuesday by shooting 54 percent and holding Southwest Missouri (4-4) to 36.5 percent. The biggest obstacle was a raucous near-sellout crowd of 8,431 in the bandbox Hammons Center.

“I couldn’t hear myself,” Chatman said. “It made you focus to be a really good communicating team.”

LSU ended Southwest Missouri’s 24-game home-court winning streak, the fourth-longest in the nation, despite often sluggish play and 19 turnovers. Sylvia Fowles had 11 points and 10 rebounds and Scholanda Hoston had 13 points for the Lady Tigers, who trailed, 49-47, with 6:26 left before pulling away.

“It wasn’t our best game,” said Augustus, who was nine for 12. “We were stagnant on offense, but as the game went on we progressed.”

No. 2 Stanford 71, Missouri 55 -- Brooke Smith scored 16 points and Kelley Suminski 13 on her 22nd birthday, leading the Cardinal in Columbia, Mo.

Smith took over inside in the second half, shooting six for eight for Stanford (8-0).

Megan Roney led Missouri (4-5) with 13 points. LaToya Bond, the Tigers’ second-leading scorer, was scoreless in the first half and finished with seven points.

Leading, 29-21, at halftime, the Cardinal scored 15 of the next 21 points, including eight from Smith.

No. 3 Duke 66, No. 20 Purdue 48 -- Monique Currie had 22 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists to lead the Blue Devils in the Boilermaker Blockbuster in Indianapolis.

Wanisha Smith added 12 points and Mistie Williams had a career-high 14 rebounds for the Blue Devils (10-1), who extended their winning streak to eight games.

Erin Lawless scored 17 points and Katie Gearlds 16 for Purdue (6-3), which shot a season-low 28 percent from the field.

No. 10 Ohio State 73, Oregon 58 -- Jessica Davenport had 12 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Buckeyes in the Nike Classic in Eugene, Ore.

Caity Matter added 19 points and seven rebounds for the Buckeyes (10-1), who have won seven straight.

Catherine Kraayeveld led all scorers with 21 points for the Ducks (7-1).

No. 12 Texas Tech 87, Arkansas State 53 -- Alesha Robertson scored 21 points and Chesley Dabbs 17 for the Lady Raiders (6-1) in a Duel in the Desert first-round game in Las Vegas.

Robertson connected on five of six shots during the second half, when the Lady Raiders outscored the Lady Indians, 44-25.

Texas Tech opened the second half with a 19-5 run after leading, 43-28, at halftime.

Judith Smith had 12 points for Texas Tech, Cisti Greenwalt 10 points and a team-high 12 rebounds and Erin Grant 10 points and a team-high six assists.

Arkansas State is 4-4.

The game included a five-minute delay during the first half when a bat took flight through the arena. Texas Tech assistant coach Roger Reding helped capture the bat when he threw a towel over it and stopped it from flying.

No. 22 Rutgers 66, Clemson 51 -- The Scarlet Knights forced 24 turnovers and scored 11 of the final 13 points from the foul line to defeat Clemson in Piscataway, N.J.

The Scarlet Knights (6-2) made 16 of 22 free throws in the second half and 18 of 27 in the game.

Rutgers took the lead when Nikki Jett broke a 9-9 tie with a jumper from the baseline and built a 12-point lead with 3:17 left before Clemson cut it to 27-21 at halftime.

Clemson (5-5) pulled to 43-38 with 9:30 left, but Rutgers regained a double-digit lead with just over two minutes to play.

New Mexico 61, No. 23 Arizona State 45 -- Abbie Letz scored 16 points and New Mexico’s defense held Arizona State to a season-low point total at Albuquerque, N.M.

Arizona State (7-2) shot a season-low 30 percent as its six-game winning streak ended. ASU, averaging just under 72 points, made just eight of 33 shots in the second half.

Letz made six of nine shots and was four for five on three-pointers for New Mexico (7-1). Mandi Moore added 12 points for the Lobos, who won despite having more turnovers (24) than field goals (22).

No. 24 Iowa 80, Drake 69 -- Crystal Smith scored 33 points, the most of her career, and Jamie Cavey added 16 points, 13 rebounds and seven blocks at home for Iowa.

Iowa (9-0), which joined the top 25 on Monday, scored the first six points and never trailed. The Hawkeyes led by as many as 20 in the second half.

No. 25 Kansas State 71, Alabama 52 -- Megan Mahoney scored 22 points to lead Kansas State in the Triple Crown Classic at Southwest Missouri State.

Claire Coggins scored 14 points, Laurie Koehn added 13 and McIntyre had 12 for Kansas State (6-2). After taking a 30-29 halftime lead, the Wildcats went on a 24-7 run to take a 54-36 lead with 8:23 left behind nine points by Mahoney.

Alabama (6-2), which shot 45 percent in the first half, went threefor 16 in the first 12 minutes of the second half and committed seven turnovers.