NASHVILLE, Tenn. — All-Tournament point guard Temeka Johnson single-handedly tried to pace the LSU women’s basketball team to the 2002 Southeastern Conference Tournament title, but the beleaguered seven-player Lady Tigers squad didn’t have the legs to provide much support as sixth-ranked Vanderbilt came away with a 63-48 victory in front of 7,131 mostly Commodore fans on Sunday.
With three torn ACL’s in dress clothes on the bench and nagging injuries to the few who could play, LSU (17-11) didn’t score a field goal in the last 7:18 of the game, but kept the game at bay until the waning minutes. Vanderbilt, seeded third, won its third SEC Tournament (along 1993 and 1995) and improved to 27-6.
With her team struggling to keep pace after playing three games in three days with only six players seeing the court, Johnson was 11-of-20 shooting to score a career-high 22 points. Ke-Ke Tardy also helped to pick up the slack against the much taller and deeper Commodores, scoring 12 points. Scholanda Dorrell added eight while Aiysha Smith struggled with fatigue to finish with four. Roneeka Hodges added a basket, as she and her twin sister Doneeka were only 1-of-6 shooting. Roneeka only played 14 minutes due as chronic leg cramps kept her on the bench most of the second half.
LSU’s shooting percentage fell to 38.3 percent for the game (23 of 60), as the Lady Tigers were only 10 of 30 in the second half. They did not hit a three-point basket in five attempts.
Vanderbilt was led by Chantelle Anderson with 18, while Tournament MVP Zuzi Klimesova added 16 on 7-of-10 shooting. The Commodores shot 49 percent from the field (24 of 49), including 5 of 16 from three-point range. Vanderbilt ended the game on a 12-2 run after LSU cut the lead to 51-46 with 7:18 remaining.
By virtue of two wins in the SEC Tournament including a semifinal win over No. 1-seed Tennessee on Saturday, LSU locked its place among the 64-team NCAA Tournament field. The field will be announced on March 10, while the tournament begins March 15.
The Commodores came out firing from inside and out to start the game, hitting 4-of-5 and then 6-of-9 to take a 12-4 lead after six minutes of play. On the other hand, LSU was only 1-of-7 before Tardy hit a 18-footer with the shot clock at zero. Anderson and Klimesova combined for 10 of the Commodores’ 12 points at the 13 minutes mark.
LSU, which struggled to get its wind in the first nine minutes, answered with six straight points after the first media timeout at 13:21. Tardy hit an eight-footer off an in-bounds pass before Smith found Johnson uncovered under the basket for an easy layup. Dorrell intercepted a Vanderbilt pass and took it the length of the court for a layup to cut the lead to 12-10 with 11:40 left in the half
After the teams traded baskets, Smith was forced to take a seat on the bench as the third game in as many games led to fatigue for one of the seven Lady Tigers dressed for the tournament. In Smith’s absence, Vanderbilt scored seven straight to lead by nine, 21-12, with 6:59 on the clock.
Behind Johnson’s play on the offensive end and Vanderbilt’s inability to get the ball into the paint, LSU cut the lead to five, 27-22, with just more than three minutes to play in the first half.
As LSU packed the paint with five players on the defensive end, Johnson made two critical baskets: a 17-footer over Klimesova as the shot clock expired and a slashing dibble penetration that split Anderson and Klimesova for a layup. The Lady Tigers trailed 28-26 at halftime.
LSU took its first lead of the game with 12:12 to play, as the Lady Tigers rolled off six straight after Vanderbilt took a 37-32 lead. Johnson hit a 17-foot jump shot, before Tardy hit a long field goal and Dorrell converted a layup on a back cut for a 38-37 lead.
As LSU began to tire, The Commodores then responded with an 8-2 run to take a 46-40 lead before LSU head coach Sue Gunter called a timeout with 9:45 to play. However, Johnson continued to spearhead the Lady Tigers’ effort, scoring four of LSU’s next six to keep LSU within five, 51-46, with 6:30 to play.
After Vanderbilt scored the only basket in the next three minutes of play to lead by seven, 53-46, Ramsey hit a raining trey with 2:36 to play to give Vanderbilt an insurmountable lead.