STARKVILLE, Miss. — Temeka Johnson did it all in scoring 19 points, dishing out nine assists and grabbing seven rebounds to carry No. 4 LSU to a 77-72 victory over 12th-ranked Mississippi State in Starkville, Miss., on Sunday afternoon.
Johnson scored 15 of her points in the second half as the Lady Tigers rallied in the final minutes. LSU trailed by as many as 12 in the first half before beginning its comeback.
“It’s hard to give one person credit for today, but, I thought the real catalyst was Temeka Johnson,” said LSU head coach Sue Gunter. “She just took it on herself and thought we’re not going to lose. She really dug in and team jumped on her back and she carried us.
The game, played in front of a Humphrey Coliseum-record crowd of 6,055, was the Lady Tiger’s fourth straight against a ranked opponent, all resulting in victories. With the win, LSU (20-1, 8-1 Southeastern Conference) improved its best SEC start in school history and has beaten the Lady Bulldogs 11 straight times.
The Lady Tigers were out of sync early, missing three layups and committing a pair of turnovers on their first six possessions in digging an early 11-2 hole. Tan White had seven of the Lady Bulldog points in the run.
LSU’s struggles lasted well into the first half as Mississippi State built a 27-15 lead with 7:31 remaining. In that span, the Lady Tigers committed eight turnovers that led to 13 Lady Bulldog points.
Mississippi State’s pair of All-Americans, LaToya Thomas and White, combined to score 24 points as the Lady Bulldogs built a 36-33 lead at intermission.
“In the first half Mississippi State came out with a lot of energy,” Gunter noted. “We couldn’t do anything right and committed way too many turnovers.
For whatever reason we couldn’t contain them.” Thomas finished with 32 points and 11 rebounds.
“Let me just say, LaToya Thomas is a special, special player. She did a great job today, her and Tan White,” said Gunter. “But I thought we did a nice job of containing Tan in the second half.”
LSU tied the game for the first time, 42-42, on Johnson’s 18 foot jumper from the left wing with 16:12 left in the game. However, Thomas answered with a pair of free throws 26 seconds later.
Thomas’ bucket with 13:23 left off the feed from Tan White stretched the lead back to five, 50-45. The team’s traded baskets for the next six minutes until LSU went on an 8-0 run, capped by a Doneeka Hodges three pointer that gave the Lady Tigers their first lead, 63-61.
“Everybody was important tonight. Doneeka hit two three’s late that were really important. Somehow we found way to get it done today in a tough setting,” said Gunter.
Following a State timeout, Thomas answered with a jumper in the paint to tie it. Ke-Ke Tardy answered for LSU before White knocked down a pair of free throws, knotting the game at 65-65 heading into the final media timeout with 4:00 remaining. Tardy was LSU’s second leading scorer with 15 points, while Hodges added 14 and Aiysha Smith had 13.
With 3:33 remaining, Wendlyn Jones scored her only basket of the second half to give LSU the lead for good at 67-65.
Seimone Augustus, LSU’s leading scorer, was forced to the bench by an ankle injury with 6:15 left and the Lady Tigers trailing 61-58. She would not return and finished with six points, nearly 10 below her average.
Augustus’ biggest contribution came in the first half when she sparked a 10-2 run with all four of her points in the midst of a 10-2 run that cut the deficit to 29-25 with 4:53 left.
The teams traded after that baskets until White’s free throw with 1:08 left gave State a seven-point advantage. However, Hodges hit an 18-footer and Johnson put back her own miss for the halftime score.
Johnson’s putback from 10-feet as the horn sounded cut the lead inside four for the first time since it was 5-2.