Lady Eagles held to 13 first-half points

HOUMA, La. (AP) -- LSU got a chance to try out some new plays and new players during an 80-35 win over Southern Mississippi on Sunday.

"We had a couple of new plays we wanted to try and we wanted to show our full-court defense," said Seimone Augustus, who led the Lady Tigers (No. 2 ESPN/USA Today, No. 3 AP) with 16 points. "We were able to do that. We also continued to get a number of young players experience."

LSU (4-0) dominated the first half and held Southern Miss to 13 first-half points, which tied a record low for the Lady Eagles. LSU set a school record with 27 steals.

"I'm more concerned with the deflections that we had," LSU head coach Pokey Chatman said. "Making our opponents set up their offense farther away is always a key and the deflections set that up and enable us to get more steals."

Shannon Stueber had 11 points for Southern Miss (0-1), which had two seven-minute scoring droughts and only two field goals in the opening 17:32.

With a robust lead in the second half, 15 different Lady Tigers saw action as LSU rested its starters.

"What makes them special is the giants that they have inside," Southern Miss head coach Joye Lee-McNelis said. "They were just sticking to us and we just kept turning the ball over, which led to a lot of easy baskets."

LSU's Sylvia Fowles added 13 points and Scholanda Hoston and Quianna Chaney each had 12.

"I listened to what the coaches were trying to teach me offensively and defensively. I knew I needed to hit the boards and just do whatever was needed for us to come away with the win," Fowles said.