AUSTIN, Texas — Jody Conradt’s 20th-ranked Texas Longhorns survived a late rally by Sue Gunter‘s LSU Lady Tigers on Thursday night for a 65-63 victory in a battle between two of the four winningest coaches in NCAA women’s basketball history.
The loss drops LSU to 3-1 while Texas improves to 4-0.
Trailing 60-55 with 2:57 to go, the Tigers made a big defensive stop when Stacy Stephens was called for three seconds in the lane. Freshman Sholanda Dorrell then hit a big three off a Kisha James feed to get within two.
Another defensive stop later, LSU was down two when Aiysha Smith drew a foul while going to the basket. She converted both free throws to tie the game, 60-60, with 1:45 left.
Kaira White answered with a short baseline jumper to give the lead back to Texas. Ke-Ke Tardy then committed an offensive foul away from the ball the next time down. But White missed both free throws and the Tigers trailed just two with a minute remaining.
However, James missed from 12 feet with 46 seconds remaining and Cook hit an 18-foot jumper from the left side with 20 seconds left to ice the game.
Poor shooting plagued both teams as LSU was just 18-for-49 for 37 percent and Texas was just 24-for-58 for 41 percent.
Texas made one of two free throws and Doneeka Hodges hit a three-pointer in the final 15 seconds for the final margin. The Longhorns had led by as many as eight with six minutes to play.
“We had every opportunity to win the game and we didn’t,” said Gunter. “There were times when Texas tried to give it to us and we wouldn’t take it. We can talk about so many of the things that go on, but the bottom line is we took some shots that were horrible in the first half and in the last five minutes, we gave up two or three transition baskets that killed us.”
The Longhorns never trailed in the game which featured just three ties as the youthful Lady Tigers squad could never gain an advantage.
Dorrell led all players with 21 points and was one of four Tigers in double figures. Texas spread the scoring around as Heather Schreiber led the team with 11 while Kala Bowers and Tracy Cook had 10 each.
Dorrell also led LSU in rebounding with seven rebounds and five steals. The Tigers were outrebounded 44-30 on the night.
The Longhorns had 27 bench points while LSU had just seven as depth became a key factor late in the game. In a game that featured 55 free throws, the Lady Tigers had one player foul out while two others played the final minutes with four fouls.
“Both teams got tired and they just happened to have more players than we did, but that is no excuse,” said Gunter. “I just don’t have an excuse for tonight. I am disappointed with some of the things we could have done and didn’t do.”
Conradt is the nation’s all-time leader in wins with 770 while Gunter ranks fourth with 636. Tennessee’s Pat Summit and Rutgers’ Vivian Stringer are second and third.
The Lady Tigers, who trailed by five at intermission, immediately cut the deficit to one to open the second half behind a Roneeka Hodges basket and a pair of free throws from twin sister Doneeka. However, Texas answered right back with four points to stretch the lead back to five at the 17:22 mark.
With 15:08 remaining to play, Roneeka was called for an offensive foul and then proceeded to pick up a technical foul, allowing the Longhorns to knock down two free throws and go up 41-35.
LSU responded by scoring the next five points, but again could not convert an opportunity to take the lead.
The teams traded baskets for the next 12 minutes with the Longhorn lead remaining between four and eight points for most of that stretch. Each team had numerous chances to take control of the game, but neither was able to capitalize.
LSU forced 22 Texas turnovers, but had 18 of their own after committing just six in the one-point win over Virginia Tech this past Sunday.
Texas opened up an early 4-0 lead in the first 1:15 on baskets by Schreiber and Cook. LSU finally got on the board 3:12 into the game with a three-pointer by Ronneka, who led all players with 10 first-half points. She finished with 12.
Following a Longhorn bucket, Roneeka hit her second three of the game to force a 6-6 tie. She hit a trio of three’s in the half to help the Lady Tigers keep it close.
Stephens, who had five points and eight rebounds in the first half, hit a pair of free throws to cap an 8-2 Texas run which put it up by six at the 13:50 mark of the first frame. The lead became nine, 21-12, before LSU scored nine unanswered points for the second tie of the game.
Texas hit nine of 11 free throws in a foul-laden final five minutes of the half in taking a 32-27 lead to the locker room.
“We went on a run to tie it and get ourselves right back into the thick of things, but we couldn’t hold on to it. Then we’d get a foul at a critical time or something like that. But that is part of it and that’s the way it goes.”
LSU was able to force 12 first-half turnovers, but could not keep the Longhorns off the boards as Texas owned a 22-11 rebounding advantage, which included a 9-3 advantage on the offensive side.
Purdue, the defending national runner-up, comes to the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Sunday for a 2 p.m. game with the Lady Tigers. The game is part of a double-header with the men’s team, which faces Northwestern State at 4 p.m.