No. 3 LSU 107, Southern U. 39

11/23/2005 12:06 AM

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Even though Seimone Augustus was held to her lowest point total in two seasons, No. 3 LSU cruised to an easy victory in its home opener.

Augustus played just 20 minutes and had 10 points to help LSU rout Southern University 107-39 on Tuesday night. It was her lowest scoring game since finishing with eight points against Richmond two seasons ago.

Sylvia Fowles scored 21 points and Erica White added 14 for the Lady Tigers (2-0). LSU forced 34 turnovers and held the Lady Jaguars (2-1) to 32 percent shooting, including 2-for-10 from 3-point range.

``Other than a sluggish start of the second half, I was really pleased,'' LSU coach Pokey Chatman said. ``We did a good job in both our half-court offense and our half-court defense.''

Ashley Thomas and Quianna Chaney each scored 12 for the Lady Tigers, whose 68-point margin of victory in their home opener ranked second in team history to a 104-28 win over Prairie View 10 years ago.

``Their athleticism is incredible,'' said Southern coach Sandy Pugh. ``Some of those kids on that team, they could probably play for our men's team. They're so athletic, quick, jump well, strong. Very impressive.''

Rolanda Monroe led Southern with 11 points. Fredreika Lewis added 10.

``We really never got into our offensive schemes until the second half to where we were able to get the ball down and do something positive with it,'' said Pugh. ``I thought that was a big problem. Their athleticism was over the top for us.''

In the first half the Lady Jaguars shot 67 percent, but trailed 21-9. Southern made four of its first six field goal attempts, but committed nine turnovers.

``We limited Southern's touches in the half-court,'' Chatman said. ``Our pressure was good early. We got all five people involved in our defense.''

Fowles, who scored 15 points in the first half, made the last two baskets before halftime to give LSU a 57-17 lead.

``Offensively as a team our execution was as good as it's been in a long, long time,'' Chatman said. ``You could go from players one through 12 and I was pleased.''