LaToya Thomas finished Sunday’s game against the LSU Tigers with 32 points and 11 rebounds. Numerous times during the contest, Thomas put the team on her shoulders and carried the Bulldogs. But, even an All-American performance was not enough to pull the Bulldogs past the fourth ranked Lady Tigers.
The 77-72 loss was the first loss at The Hump this season for the Lady Bulldogs. MSU fell to 16-6, 5-3 as the Tigers improved to 20-1, 8-1.
“LaToya will beat you. She will get 80 if you let her,” LSU head coach Sue Gunter said following Sunday’s game. “We tried as best we could to contain her. You have to try to slow her down. You know she is going to get her points, you just try to not let her have a career night.”
In the first half Sunday, the Bulldogs raced to an early 14-4 lead and stretched the gap to as many as 12 points with nine minutes to play in the first period.
LSU fought back and cut the lead to 36-33 on a last second shot to close out the first half.
The Bulldogs pushed the lead to seven points just one minute into the second half, but could not extend the lead any further. After trailing for the first 35 minutes of the game, a 3-pointer by Doneeka Hodges gave the Tigers their first lead.
LSU would not relinquish the lead for the remainder of the game, and came away with a hard fought victory.
“I thought we came out with real good intensity in the first half, and did the things we wanted to,” Lady Bulldog sophomore guard Tan White said. “We just did not continue that for the entire game. You can’t back off against good teams, and LSU is a very good team.”
For the game, MSU forced 20 Tiger turnovers, including 11 steals, and produced 22 points off the turnovers.
Despite 18 Bulldog offensive rebounds to nine for the Tigers, the Bulldogs were outscored 11-4 on second chance opportunities.
The Bulldogs finished the game shooting just 39 percent from the field, including 3-18 from 3-point range. LSU shot 54 percent from the floor for the game.
“We did not play with the intensity for the entire game that I thought we should have played with,” MSU head coach Sharon Fanning said. ” We had some lapses during the game that we should not have.”
White finished the game with 12 points, 10 first half points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals. Blessing Chekwa added 11 points and five rebounds for the Bulldogs.
Temeka Johnson led the Tigers with 19 points and added nine assists and seven rebounds. Jackson, Miss., native Ke-Ke Tardy added 15 points on 7-of-8 from the field, and Hodges and Aiysha Smith rounded out the double-digit scorers with 14 and 13 respectively.
One factor in the Bulldogs early energy was the record crowd of 6,055 that were in attendance at The Hump on Sunday. The crowd came after a big push to “Pack The Hump” during the past week.
“It always feels good to come out in front of a big crowd like we had tonight,” Thomas said following the game. “I hope that everyone will continue to come out, because we have so important games left.”
The Bulldogs will be back in action at the Humphrey Coliseum on Wednesday night when they take on non-conference foe the University of New Orleans Privateers. Tip-off for the game is scheduled for 7 p.m.
The Lady Bulldogs next Southeastern Conference matchup will be Sun., Feb. 16, when they take on the Kentucky Wildcats at The Hump. Game time for the Lady Dawgs and ‘Cats is set for 2 p.m.
For the Record
With her 11 rebounds on Sunday, LaToya Thomas became the first Lady Bulldog to eclipse the 1,000 rebound barrier. For the season Thomas is averaging 25 points and 8.4 rebounds per contest.
Thomas joined Bailey Howell as the only Bulldogs, male or female, to notch 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds during their career.