The Lady Wolfpack cruised past LSU-Shreveport 77-61 at The Den on Jan. 25. They extended their current winning streak to four and upped their home record to 8-0. Despite only leading by six at halftime, the ‘Pack outscored the Lady Pilots 44-34 in the second half.
A visibly proud and excited Dobee Plaisance said, “We built a 15-point lead in the first half that got cut to six. I’m really pleased with the way we jumped on them at the beginning of the second half and sustained it for the rest of the way”.
The Smith sisters, psychology freshmen, continue to impress. Though missing over thirteen minutes of the first half, due to fouls, Trenell Smith had an efficient game, finishing with 17 points on six-of-seven shooting. She also collected five rebounds and had five assists with only two turnovers.
Her sister Trenese added 15 points and five boards. Kiely Schork had 14 points, including two huge three-pointers.
For the second straight game, the ‘Pack came out strong, racing to a 9-2 lead, while never falling behind. Six of those early points came from forward Christine Mainguy, management junior, playing hard in the low post.
They hope to carry this momentum into Mobile, Ala., where they will square off with rivals Spring Hill on Saturday.
Plaisance said, “This home-stand has given us momentum. (Early in the year) we were on the road for all but two games, playing arguably the toughest out-of-conference schedule of any NAIA team. We are road tested. We expect to do well on the road. I always expect good things from this team. No matter what, I expect to win.”
A Few Memorable Parts of the Game
The Good- From a statistical perspective, the ‘Pack destroyed LSU-Shreveport. They had more rebounds, more assists, a higher field goal percentage, shot three times as many free throws, had a higher free throw percentage, had more steals, and fewer turnovers. This was as dominant as a win as you will see.
The Bad- As good as they were, they struggled a bit when Trenell Smith went out with foul trouble. They were outscored 25-23 without Trenell. The flipside of that is that, they scored eighteen more points than LSU-S with Trenell playing.
The Old-School- Midway through the first half, forward Marley Milton, criminal justice freshman, shook off her defender and connected on a sweet skyhook, off the glass from the low block. Though she is listed as more than a foot shorter than Kareem, he still would have loved that move.
Daniel Alvarez can be reached at [email protected].
