LSU Overpowers Huskies in Win

Ernesta Griciunaite sets career high with nine rebounds

Ernesta Griciunaite (Photo by Anthony Vasser)

BATON ROUGE, La. – The HBU women’s basketball team lost at #5 LSU by a score of 93-31 on the opening day of the Sue Gunter Classic, hosted by the Lady Tigers.

LSU jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead entering the first media timeout, as both Latear Eason and Taylor Turnbow had four points apiece. The Lady Tigers forced five Husky turnovers during that time. The Huskies got on the board with five straight points – a Raquel Jones layup and a Taniqua Hollis three – but HBU found itself down 22-5 entering the second media timeout. Midway through the first half, the Lady Tigers were shooting an incredible 71 percent from the field.

LSU’s torrid start slowed down a bit in the latter part of the first half, but the Huskies could not get the shots to fall and entered halftime trailing 46-15 as Ernesta Griciunaite hit a jumper at the buzzer.

Griciunaite and Jamie Spriggs led the Huskies with four points apiece as both players also had two blocks each. Dominique Mayberry had three assists, while both Griciunaite and Jones led the team with three rebounds.

LSU was led in scoring by Turnbow with 10 points, followed by both Eason and SEC Pre-season Player of the Year, Allison Hightower, with eight points each. Both Turnbow and LaSondra Barrett had five rebounds each and Eason had five assists. As a team, LSU shot 53 percent from the floor opposed to HBU’s 26 percent and held a 28-8 advantage in points in the paint.

Once again, the Lady Tigers started the half hot, out-scoring the Huskies 11-2 and increasing their lead to 57-15 entering the first media timeout of the second half. During that stretch, LSU shot 83 percent while HBU only managed two shots, hitting one. Jones started getting hot from beyond the arc, hitting a pair of threes, but the Huskies could not stop the LSU offense. HBU fought hard the entire game, but it was just too much Lady Tigers.

HBU was led in scoring by Raquel Jones with eight points, followed by Taniqua Hollis with seven. Griciunaite set a new career high in rebounds, grabbing nine, seven defensive. Mayberry led the Huskies with three assists, while Spriggs and Hollis had one steal each.

LSU had five players finish with double-digit points, led by Turnbow and Eason with 12 points each. Erica Williams scored 11 points in 13 minutes while both Hightower and Courtney Jones rounded out the group, scoring 10 each. Eason led the team with five assists, while Destini Hughes had four steals.

Post-Game New Conference:

Todd Buchanan:
“ LSU was by far the most athletic and quick team we’ve faced this season. We feel like our half-court execution was the best all season, but we just couldn’t make a shot.”

Raquel Jones, asked what the team mindset was after being down 14-0:
“The crowd was intense and much bigger than in our gym. We just had to settle down and play basketball.”

HBU (2-8) will face Louisiana-Lafayette in the consolation game tomorrow at 4:30 pm.