BATON ROUGE — Led by tournament Most Valuable Player Seimone Augustus, the second-ranked LSU women’s basketball fought off a second-half rally by Louisville with a 9-0 run in a two-minute span to win the second-annual womenscollegehoops.com Classic, 65-46, on Thursday evening in the Maravich Assembly Center.
Augustus paced the Lady Tigers (8-0) with 16 points on 8-of-12 shooting, eight rebounds and five assists, while forward DeTrina White posted her second double double in as many nights, 10 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
Reserve guard Roneeka Hodges was the only other Lady Tiger in double figures scoring with 13 points, while All-America points guard Temeka Johnson had six points and a team-high seven assists.
The Lady Tigers forced Louisville (3-4) into 25 turnovers and only 35.7 percent from the field (20 of 56). Guard Sara Nord and forward Lori Nero, both also on the All-Tournament team, led the Cardinals with a combined 29 points on 12 of 27 shooting. Along with 15 points, Nero completed the double double with 11 assists, while Nord added eight assists.
At the 12:51 mark, Nero cut the Lady Tigers lead to three, 12-9. From there, LSU went on a 15-0 run to take a 27-9 lead with 7:12 to play in the half. Augustus scored six points in the run and 12 in the first half, while Roneeka Hodges hit a pair of three-pointers during the run.
The Lady Tigers opened as much as a 20-point lead before the half, leading 37-19 at the break.
To open the second half, the lead grew to 22 early before a 14-2 run by the Cardinals narrowed the gap to 44-33 with 14:26 to play. Louisville closed the advantage to 10 on three occasions, including 54-44 with 5:24 left, but never got closer.
On the Lady Tigers’ next possession, forward Aiysha Smith stepped outside the arc to hit a trey and start a 9-0 LSU run that put the Cardinals out of reach.
The Lady Tigers return to action on Saturday, Dec. 21, at 1 p.m. when they play host to Southwest Texas as the first part of a day-night doubleheader with the men’s team in the Maravich Assembly Center.
In the consolation game of the classic, Ohio (2-6) defeated New Orleans (1-6), 61-54.
2002 womenscollegehoops.com Classic
All-Tournament Team
G Andrea Johnson, Ohio
G Sara Nord, Louisville
F Lori Nero, Louisville
F Aiysha Smith, LSU
F DeTrina White, LSU
MVP: Seimone Augustus, LSU