Beat Downs Unlimited vs. LSU (12/16/09)

[aahhbigboy]

Dec 17, 2009 8:16:19 GMT -5 thefriscotxaggie said:

carried off by two players but she put know pressure on her leg and appeared to be in alot pain

Was it the same knee she injured before?

[thefriscotxaggie]

Yea

very much appeared to be the knee with the brace on it. I pray its just a twisted knee but it looked pretty bad

LSU girl through a head fake; Smally ran at her and jumped and came down in a terrible position

[aahhbigboy]

God. You hate to hear that for anybody man. Not only athletically for her and her career, but a knee injury adversely affects your life overall. I hope for the best with her.

[JeffAggieFan]

A&T will bounce back. The Morgan men got blown out by Minneasota a couple of weeks ago and then whip Manhattan the next week.

What really scarry is how good UConn is in women basketball. UConn would probably beat this LSU team by 30 points.

I pray for Smally to bounce back on this knee injury.

[Bornthrilla]

www.lsusports.net/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=5200&ATCLID=204859167

LSU Wins Inaugural Sue Gunter Classic
Updated: December 16, 2009, 10:11 p.m. (CT)
by Bill Martin, Associate Sports Information Director

BATON ROUGE – LSU senior guard Allison Hightower led all scorers with 12 points and was named tournament most valuable player as the fifth-ranked Lady Tiger basketball team dominated North Carolina A&T, 75-33, in the championship game of the inaugural Sue Gunter Classic on Wednesday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

LSU improved to 9-0 for the fourth time this decade and did so with its usual attacking defense, surrendering less than 35 points for the third straight game and the fourth time this season. North Carolina A&T dropped to 4-5 and shot 20.4 percent (10-of-49) for the game.

UL-Lafayette (3-7) won the consolation game earlier in the day by a score of 86-76 over Houston Baptist (2-9). The Ragin’ Cajuns were led in scoring by Alexis Green, who fired in 23 points and was named to the all-tournament team. UL-Lafayette trailed early in the contest but managed to tie the game at the half and outscore the Huskies, 51-41 the rest of the way.

Sophomore forward LaSondra Barrett added 10 points and a game-high seven rebounds for LSU on Wednesday night, and the Lady Tigers spread the wealth for the second straight night as every player who dressed played at least 10 minutes and scored. Barrett and teammate Taylor Turnbow were named to the all-tournament team.

“I thought this was a great win for us tonight,” LSU head coach Van Chancellor said. “To win the first-ever Sue Gunter Classic is great. To win the game like we did was super. Any time you win by 42 points and play everybody 10 minutes, it’s pretty good. This was a good night for us.”

LSU wasted little time in separating the score with one of the most dominating half’s in school history. The Aggies scored 10 points in the first 20 minutes and shot a dismal 12 percent from the floor, making only three of their 25 shot attempts.

With the score 10-4 in favor of LSU at the 15:21 mark, North Carolina A&T would go on a scoreless dry spell for the next nine minutes. The Lady Tigers meanwhile put together a decisive 20-0 run during the span. Hightower drained a 3-pointer to make it 20-4, and Barrett scored five straight points to increase the lead to 30-4 before the Aggies would impact the scoreboard again.

Nakia Deblanc’s free throw and a Jalessa Sams jumper would end the scoring drought with 5:15 remaining in the first half. By then the game was well in hand for LSU who remained unbeaten. North Carolina A&T threatened to score the fewest points allowed by the Lady Tigers in a half before Ta’Wuana Cook made a baseline jumper as the first-half horn sounded.

The Aggies trailed 38-10 at the break and LSU used a 16-2 run in a seven-minute span to push the lead to 56-19 following Jasmine Nelson’s jumper at the 10:38 mark. Chancellor worked several combinations in the second half as both true freshmen Adrienne Webb and Bianca Lutley scored nine points. Lutley knocked down a pair of 3-pointers in 13 minutes of action.

“I think our team’s athleticism was a real advantage tonight,” Chancellor said. We have a lot of players who are long and lean, and they play hard. We just substitute a lot of players. We bring in Courtney Jones who’s a really nice player. We bring in (Jasmine) Nelson and (Swayze) Black who are both really good. Our depth is really good right now. I thought (Adrienne) Webb played great tonight.”

LSU finished the game at 47.5 percent from the floor while converting 29 points off of 23 Aggie turnovers. Cook led North Carolina A&T with seven points and a spot on the all-tournament team.

The Lady Tigers face their toughest test to date at 1 p.m. CST Sunday when the Lady Tigers take on No. 18 Nebraska in Lincoln. The Huskers are off to their best start in school history with a 10-0 record.

2009 Sue Gunter Classic All-Tournament Team
Alexis Green, UL-Lafayette
Ta’Wuana Cook, North Carolina A&T
Allison Hightower, LSU
LaSondra Barrett, LSU
Taylor Turnbow, LSU

LSU HEAD COACH VAN CHANCELLOR QUOTES

Opening statement...
“I thought this was a great win for us tonight. To win the first-ever Sue Gunter Classic is great. To win the game like we did was super. Any time you win by 42 points and play everybody 12 minutes, it’s pretty good. This was a good night for us.”

On overall team athleticism...
“I think our team’s athleticism was a real advantage tonight. We have a lot of players who are long and lean, and they play hard. We just substitute a lot of players. We bring in Courtney Jones who’s a really nice player. We bring in (Jasmine) Nelson and (Swayze) Black who are both really good. Our depth is really good right now. I thought (Adrienne) Webb played great tonight. Destani Hughes was outstanding defensively. I wish we could get her to clean up a few turnovers, but her defense was really outstanding.”


LSU PLAYER QUOTES

Guard Allison Hightower

On their defensive intensity tonight...
“We just wanted to defend them the way we’ve defended past teams we’ve played. We’ve been working really hard on our defense and we didn’t want to let up tonight.”

On being named MVP of the Sue Gunter Classic...
“It feels good. It feels good to get it, but I don’t really look at individual stats. I’m just glad we got the win.”

On defending North Carolina A&T guard Ta’Wuana Cook...
“The coaches told us she was a very good player and a very good athlete. We just wanted to continue to have good defense like we’ve been doing the past couple of days. Everybody who was guarding her, it was a team effort. I think we did a pretty good job.”

Forward LaSondra Barrett

On having each player score tonight...
“It shows it was a team effort. The coaches have been expecting a lot out of the bench when they’re put in to keep up our intensity, energy and the level of play. A couple people stepped up, and it just shows how balanced our team can be that everybody scored.”

On her effort tonight...
“Defensively, I was just trying to keep up what we’ve been doing for the past two games. I just knew my offense would come. Our defense creates our offense, so we knew that. Coming in, I just wanted to dominate the glass on this team and push the ball, so that was my main focus.”


NORTH CAROLINA A&T HEAD COACH PATRICIA CAGE-BIBBS

Opening Statement ...
“LSU is a really good team, and I have so much respect for Coach Chancellor. He has a really good program and I wish him the best of luck. That team can go as far as they want.”

On the way they matched up with LSU ...
“LSU played really good man-to-man defense tonight, and we just couldn’t get anything going against that. I felt like we matched up well with him, height-wise, but they hit some good shots. Granted, we gave them some open looks, but they have some good shooters, and they knocked them down. We know what we have to do, but this wasn’t our team tonight. We’re not going to forget this game, but we’re going to work on it and learn from it.”

On participating in the Sue Gunter Classic ...
“First of all I’m just happy to have been able to participate in this tournament. I respect Coach Gunter so much, and I was just happy that we were invited to come down. I was happy to get down here and allow my players to have the opportunity to experience this and play in a big arena against a nationally-ranked team. I know we’re going to learn from this and grow from this, and that’s what you want to do.”

[Bornthrilla]

Photos from last night's game, courtesy of LSUsports.net:

www.lsusports.net/PhotoAlbum.dbml?ATCLID=204859167&SPSID=27830&SPID=2167&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=5200&PALBID=359768

[pj]

Congrats to the team to reach the finals. I'm sure that this game humbled the team and, on the other hand , inspired them. They "split" on this road trip. They have one more long trip before NCCU & Liberty. They looked in the mirror. We could meet this team again in the big show (if we make it). FAMU is early on the road also.

Overall, Smalley is a concern. I remember during the Auburn game that the Sister was diving in the stands and everything. She hit a couple of fade aways against the Big Sister. She is the truth Brothers! I wish her the best.

I cant wait to see them in Corbett. I may even think about lynchburg.

[Maxell]

Dec 17, 2009 7:56:16 GMT -5 Bornthrilla said:

Very embarrassing. Not other way to call it.

I didn't get a chance to follow the game live last night, but we should have competed better against LSU.

Back to the drawing board.

I did see the game. We were just playing tenatively on offense and never recovered. You can see the replay for free on the LSU athletic site.

[oleschoolaggie]

honestly, i'm not really shocked by the outcome of this game. we're talkin' bout the 5th ranked team in the country! if we had beaten them, we would have deserved to be ranked in the top 25 and clearly we're not anywhere near being a top 25 team.

and for those of you who don't follow women's basketball, you need to know that van chancellor (lsu's coach) is a "legend" in the wnba! this man "dominated" the wnba for years! he won the first 3 wnba championships in a row and coached the likes of sheryl swoops, cynthia cooper, and tina thompson. all 3 were perennial wnba all stars.

so i knew this game had the potential to get ugly. but believe it or not, losing to lsu by 42 points is nothing for our ladies to be ashamed of. yes, we can play better than we did. but its unrealistic to expect us to play on lsu's level...

[JayBee]

After watching the game on replay, I have determined that actually our ladies played good solid defense, but offensively their shots just weren't falling. LSU really had to work hard for every basket, and ofcourse they played good defense on us as well. And like thefriscotxaggie said, all of LSU's girls could ball. They could go deep in their bench and not miss a beat.

[Maxell]

Why doesn't ncataggies.com write an article when we lose badly? Hell, we played the #5 team in the country. Almost as if they think it will go away. The box score is hidden away in the statistics. And the nerve to have a front page story about track, tennis, baseball and softball. Please.

[thefriscotxaggie]

If you read the quotes from LSU Coach he sites their athletisim. While I agree; we certainally can do a better job of conditioning.

The majority of their team was long and lean but only around 5'11 to 6"1 and they could run the floor like anthlepoes out on the saharh. Even their bigs were in great shape with some well defined muscle tone.

I am sorry but to go to the next level our conditioning has to improve. poor conditionng and just being out of shape can also lead to injurys. This was not really and issue last year because BTJ & Amber were the focal points of the program and they both were in very good shape.

You have to show up to the first day a practice in shape from the time you put in during the off-season.

we will bounch back probably play better in Iowa.

[oleschoolaggie]

frisco, i got to watch the replay of the lsu game last night and you're 100% correct! i was absolutely "shocked" to see how much extra baggage our ladies are carrying! and i hate to say it, but my girl mona was as big as a house. i saw her that way in baltimore when we played chicago state, but i figured she was just returning from an injury and would need time to get in shape. but mona wasn't the only one carrying extra baggage! seemingly, over half the team is! what are our girls eating? a bunch of meatloaf?

maybe its because they've been off for 10 days while taking final exams. i dunno, but it ain't good! if you're not in shape, "everything else" goes out the window! man, that's a major, major, concern! i'm tellin' ya, i can't overemphasize that that's a major, major, concern! where's our strength and conditioning coach! do we even have a strength and conditioning program? man, a lot of excellent talent will go to waste if these ladies don't get their azzes in shape! man, i was so upset with our conditioning after watching that lsu replay that i felt like literally running all the way to greensboro to get after our ladies about their conditioning!

now, i know that i've mentioned that famu's ladies don't have me shaking in my boots, but one thing i can say about them is that they're in shape! they're carrying no extra baggage, period! their muscle tone may not be as defined as lsu, but they're lean and trim, including the bigs! and they run the floor extremely well and efficiently. that's where they have a huge advantage over us! i'm still convinced that we have more talent than them, but it don't matter if we're not in shape!

i don't know what our ladies' practice schedule has looked like the last 10 days or so, but clearly they have not placed a heavy emphasis on conditioning. man, in my coaching days, conditioning was my absolute top priority! yes, all that other stuff is important too, but if you can't get up and down the floor efficiently for 40 minutes, everything else goes out the window!

now i know why our shots wouldn't fall against lsu. when your legs aren't there, the absolute very first thing to go is your jump shot! sure, you can knock down 3's all day long at the shoot around 'cause yo azz is basically standing still with no stress on your legs. but when you're running up and down that court trying to keep up with a bunch of cheetahs, your legs get tired and everybody knows that a jump shot begins with your legs! no legs, no jump shot! 100% guaranteed! and it ain't nothin' you can do about it during the game. yo azz has got to get in the gym and run your azz off for a good week or two until you get into tip top shape! when you do that, that's when magic starts to happen!

looks like to me that our ladies are trying to play themselve into shape which will only take you so far. they've got to get in the gym and/or hit the track and put in some miles! and not only that, our muscle tone is basically "non-existent"! with all the brilliant fitness facilities that our ladies have access to, you would think we'd be in tip top shape in that regard.

coach bibbs, we need to get our ladies in tip top shape! half the team needs to lose some weight and a couple of them need to lose a lot of weight, like maybe 15 pounds or so! i can't say that the lack of conditioning caused mona's injury, but i'm certain it didn't help. folks with knee problems shouldn't be carrying extra weight, it just puts additional stress on the knee. if anything, she should have trimmed down and also strengthened the knee in the weight room. omg! i'm 'bout to lose it!

[Bornthrilla]

Not being in great shape plus the face-paced tempo of the LLU game probably was a major factor in the LSU loss.

[thefriscotxaggie]

Oleschool,

I am glad I throught it out there and you went off!!! Because I was outraged looking at the LSU game. I dont want to here a thing about facilties because ours are more than adequate. We simple have to push away from the table.

How do show up the first day of practice 15, 20, 30 pounds over weight. Thrilla - yes you can play yourself into shape but you will never play at peak condition if you are even 10 pounds overweight.

whats the off season program ? Not being in game shape is one thing being 20 pounds over is something totally different. BDV there is no excuse for this.

Not only do I expect our girls to be in shape; I would expect them to be finely tuned and condition athletes. They are on schorlaship to get an education and play ball. There are more than a few girls on the team that if you saw them with street clothes on you would have no idea that they play ball or even work out.

You lady aggies that read the site I still love you and even want put a picture of the team in my game room at the house. But this is ridiculus and you know it.