Augustus drops 23 on Green Wave

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Seimone Augustus liked the way top-ranked LSU picked apart Tulane's zone in a 79-45 rout on Sunday.

Augustus led undefeated LSU (13-0) with 23 points on 10-of-20 shooting from the field.

"We just moved around well offensively," Augustus said. "A lot of ball screens and physical play from the post players opened up a lot of holes in Tulane's zone defense."

Temeka Johnson and Scholanda Hoston scored 15 points apiece, with Johnson adding nine assists for LSU. Sylvia Fowles had seven points, nine rebounds and a career-high five blocks.

"Scoring points is only a certain part of my game," Fowles said. "When I can't do what I want to do inside, I just have to step up defensively and help my team out any way I can."

Lakethia Hampton led Tulane (8-5) with 24 points, and D'Aundra Henry had 12.

LSU opened the game with a 16-8 run and pushed the lead to double digits, 28-17, with 8:14 remaining in the first half. The Tigers put the game out of reach late in the half with a 12-0 run, holding the Green Wave without a field goal for more than 8 minutes. LSU led 42-22 at halftime.

Tulane struggled from the field throughout the game, shooting only 31.6 percent.

LSU coach Pokey Chatman was impressed with her team's defensive performance.

"We did not play well the first six minutes of the game defensively," Chatman said. "After the second media time-out, I felt that our kids really stepped up defensively and it showed. You can look at the stat sheet and see the offensive stats, but our main focus was on the defensive side of the ball and executing well there."

The Tigers outrebounded Tulane 50-38.

LSU leads the series 23-3 and is 13-1 against the Green Wave in Baton Rouge.