No. 3 LSU 89, Tulane 60

12/20/2005 11:00 PM

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - No. 3 LSU remained unbeaten, which wasn't enough to keep coach Pokey Chatman happy.

Seimone Augustus scored 20 points, Sylvia Fowles added 19 and the Lady Tigers pulled away in the second half for an 89-60 victory over Tulane on Tuesday night.

``The best thing about tonight's performance is that we are 8-0 and you can leave it at that,'' Chatman said. ``This did not match the standard this team has set for itself. Our defensive energy wasn't very good early. We did better in spurts later on.''

Augustus missed five of her first six shots from the field, then went 6-for-9. Fowles was 9-of-15 from the field with 10 rebounds and the Lady Tigers (8-0) let their frontcourt stars rest the final 12 minutes with the game in hand.

LSU's defense had been a strong point throughout its first seven games. None of the previous four opponents had reached the 50-point mark. Only Texas Tech had scored more than 55 points this season.

``I think we came out flat,'' Augustus said. ``There was no energy and no intensity. We were just going with the flow of the game.''

Ashley Thomas added 11 points and five rebounds for LSU.

Freshman Sasha Staidum led Tulane (4-2) with a season-high 13 points. Jennifer Sands scored 11 points, and Alendra Brown had 10 for the Green Wave.

Tulane stayed close for most of the opening 20 minutes. Two runs enabled the Lady Tigers to take a comfortable 16-point margin lead into halftime.

A basket by Jennifer Sands gave Tulane an 11-10 advantage with 13:23 remaining in the first half.

LSU then outscored Tulane 13-2 to go ahead by 10.

A 3-pointer by Scholanda Hoston gave the Lady Tigers the lead and Thomas had two field goals and two free throws during that stretch.

After the Green Wave reduced the deficit to 30-25 on a basket by Megan Valicevic, LSU went on another run. This time, Augustus and Fowles played major roles as the Lady Tigers outscored Tulane 18-4.

Two field goals and two free throws by Augustus started the outburst. Fowles then made three baskets. A field goal by Florence Williams with 1:14 left capped the run and put LSU on top 43-24. Nikki Luckhurst knocked down a 3-pointer to leave the Green Wave behind 43-27 at half.

``We were right in there,'' Tulane coach Lisa Stockton said. ``Then all of a sudden, they broke it open. They had put backs, fouls in the paint and second-chance opportunities. You can't stay in there with a team like that when you're giving them that many looks at the basket.''

The Lady Tigers began the second half with another huge spurt. LSU outscored Tulane 22-4 to take a 34-point lead. Augustus scored ten of those points.