Football
18y

Augustus scores 26 to keep No. 3 LSU atop SEC

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Coming off their first Southeastern
conference loss in two seasons, Seimone Augustus would not let LSU
lose a second straight game.

While her teammates struggled on both ends of the court,
Augustus scored 26 points to help the Lady Tigers (No. 3 ESPN/USA Today; No. 2 AP) defeated Arkansas 64-42 on Sunday.

The Lady Tigers (23-2, 11-1), who lost at Florida in overtime on
Thursday, maintained their one-game lead over Tennessee in the
conference race. LSU has games remaining against Alabama and
Mississippi State.

Augustus, who did not play the final 13 minutes, made 12 of 15
field goal attempts. She is the leading scorer in the SEC and has
at least 25 points in five of the last eight games.

No one else on LSU scored more than eight points.

"Our offense was not as effective," Augustus said. "I would
not say our energy level was low. But, it was not tip top. I felt I
needed to do something to step up my game."

No Arkansas player scored more than six points. The five Lady
Razorbacks starters accounted for only 11 points. Leslie Howard,
Arkansas' top scorer, made just one of six shots and finished with
two points.

"LSU is known for their offense, but they play very good
defense," Arkansas coach Susie Gardner said. "Unfortunately,
we've started the last four or five games like we did today."

The Lady Tigers failed to get off to a quick start. After
Scholanda Hoston made a field goal on the first possession, LSU
missed its next seven shots and turned the ball over twice.

"Let's start with the positive," LSU coach Pokey Chatman said.
"It's a win. It's a short list. We have to take care of the
basketball. We had 22 turnovers against Florida and 23 against
Arkansas. That's unacceptable. We are not giving ourselves the
opportunity to score."

Arkansas (13-11, 5-6) was not doing much better, making three of
its first nine field goal attempts. Six minutes into the game,
Arkansas held a 7-2 lead.

Then, the Lady Tigers came to life scoring 17 straight points. A
basket and a 3-point play by Augustus on back-to-back possessions
tied the score at 7 with 12:29 remaining in the half. Hoston had a
field goal and Florence Williams made two baskets before Augustus
knocked down three straight shots.

"I was extremely frustrated about our start," Chatman said.
"The players are well aware of what they are capable of doing.
They have to make each possession a masterpiece. They didn't come
close to doing that today."

The Lady Razorbacks, who were 6-of-30 from the field in the
first half, ended a drought of more than nine scoreless minutes
when Kristina Andjelkovic made a field goal with 5:33 left in the
half. Another Andjelkovic basket in the final minute left Arkansas
trailing 27-14 at the half.

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