BATON ROUGE — What happens when you take an engine out of a car?
The car no longer drives.
When Shayeann Day-Wilson raised her hand in the locker room during halftime of LSU women's basketbal l's NCAA Tournament second-round fight Monday with Florida State, she was dead-set on cutting off that engine.
"When you stop a car's engine, it can't really go anymore," Day-Wilson said. "Ta'Niya's their engine."
After watching Ta'Niya Latson, the nation's leading scorer, put up 23 points through the first two quarters, the LSU players sent out a challenge amongst themselves to find a way to stop her. Kim Mulkey didn't say too much in the locker room at halftime as the team figured things out.
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The Tigers were fed up. They made things personal and locked in, in the second half. Florida State mustered just six total points — two from Latson — in the third quarter. LSU outscored the Seminoles 31 to 6 en route to winning 101-71 inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center to advance to the Sweet 16 in Spokane, Washington.
"Just me taking it personal. I take pride on defense. She was scoring a lot but I came in and I got two early fouls so," Day-Wilson said. "If there was anything I could contribute to the team, it's stopping the best offensive players. Me taking that real personal and my teammates having my back."
Aneesah Morrow said the third quarter was the best defensive performance LSU has had this season. What worked so well was not only Day-Wilson's on-ball defense but the Tigers' commitment to help defense and filling lanes to force Latson to pass.
"That's probably our best third quarter. We sat in there, talked to each other," Morrow said. "Coach Mulkey didn't say too much. We held each other accountable and we challenged one another."
The crux of what Mulkey did say to her players at halftime was the team didn't need to trade baskets with FSU, that it's the situation it should find itself in.
Players had to take responsibility and once stars Mikaylah Williams and Flau'jae Johnson reentered the game after having to sit with two fouls each, the full complement of LSU dug their feet in.
"It was 'bow your necks and take it personal,'" Williams said. "Stop letting them score. We can't trade baskets with them, eventually it's not going to work out in our favor and we know that.
"We're going to need defense to make a deep run to the Sweet 16 and then on. Mjracle (Sheppard), Shy, Jada (Richard), (Last-Tear) Poa, they did a great job on Ta'Niya and letting her score only seven in the second half."
While Day-Wilson was on the bench early in the game, she studied Latson as she was going over in the first half. The two had played against each other while Day-Wilson was at Miami the last two seasons and there had been games when Latson was limited to 15 and 12 points.
In those games, Day-Wilson helped guard her. That past experience paid dividends Monday night and it was the gear that allowed her to shut off Florida State's engine.
"I was analyzing the game from the bench. I had the upper hand just a little bit because I had played her in the ACC for three years," Day-Wilson said. "When you play someone so much, you kind of know her moves and know her counter. She's a driver, she's a real good player.
"Tonight was kind of similar (to previous games). I've always just played defense. I like to take the challenge. I stepped up today when my team needed me."
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Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com .
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: How LSU had dominating third in NCAA Tournament win over Florida State
