ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Seventh-ranked LSU erased a six-point deficit with a 16-5 run over the final 5:27 Friday night as the Lady Tigers opened the 2000-01 season with a 54-49 victory over New Mexico in the first round of the Women’s Sports Foundation Classic before 7,157 fans in The Pit.
LSU, 1-0, plays No. 5 Duke at 9:30 p.m. CST Saturday in the tournament’s championship game. New Mexico, 0-1, faces UCLA at 7 p.m. CST in the consolation contest.
Trailing 44-38 with less than six minutes remaining in the game, the Lady Tigers reeled off 14 unanswered points. Forward April Brown’s two free throws cut the UNM lead to 44-40, and LSU overwhelmed the Lobos from that point, extending its lead to 52-44 on a pair of Marie Ferdinand free throws with 28.2 seconds left.
“It’s a great win for us, just an outstanding effort by our team,”‘ said LSU head coach Sue Gunter. “We had every opportunity to break down, but we didn’t do it. “We didn’t shoot the ball well tonight, we had some good looks, but the shots didn’t fall. We gave in a little bit to the crowd and the altitude, but our kids showed a lot of grit and determination.”
Ferdinand led the Lady Tigers with a game-high 19 points and Brown added 14. Freshman forward Roneeka Hodges scored nine points while forward Ke-Ke Tardy contributed four points and a team-high seven rebounds.
LSU hit 20 of 24 free throws while New Mexico was just 7-for-8 from the foul line. The Lady Tigers shot 32.7 percent from the field while limiting UNM to just 29.5 percent.
“To hit 20 of 24 free throws is kind of scary,” Gunter said, “because that wasn’t one of our strengths last season. Our defense was also outstanding tonight; New Mexico is a good shooting ball club, and we held them to 29 percent shooting from the floor.”
Guard Molly McKinnon was the only Lobo in double figures, as she scored 16 points and grabbed five rebounds. The taller Lobos outrebounded the Lady Tigers, 46-33; however, UNM committed 16 turnovers and LSU recorded nine steals.
Saturday’s LSU-Duke game is a rematch of last season’s NCAA Sweet 16 contest in Richmond, Va., when the Lady Tigers posted a 79-66 victory over the Blue Devils.