EUGENE, Ore. — Two down, four to go. That’s all that mattered to LSU women’s basketball head coach Sue Gunter and the Lady Tigers after a hard-fought 80-69 NCAA Tournament second-round victory over a senior-laden, up-start Wisconsin-Green Bay team late Monday night in McArthur Court.
The Lady Tigers (29-3) advanced to the Sweet 16 for the fourth time in seven years but the first time since 2000. LSU also improved to 15-12 in NCAA Tournament play.
They will face the winner of No. 5 seed Louisiana Tech and No. 4 seed Ohio State (8:23 p.m. CST on Tuesday in Ruston, La.) in Palo Alto, Calif., on Sunday, March 30.
Behind a 20-point effort by guard Doneeka Hodges, LSU broke their 2-day-old school NCAA Tournament record by shooting 63.6 percent from the field with junior point guard Temeka Johnson on the bench for most of the final 12:45. Reserve point guard Kisha James played valiantly in relief, dishing four assists and scoring five points in 15 minutes.
Johnson, who had seven assists in 25 minutes before going down to a incidental right elbow to the right eye by UW-Green Bay’s Chandra Johnson under the Phoenix basket.
The Lady Tigers made 31-of-49 shots from the field and 5-of-10 three-pointers. And, they needed every one of the baskets against the Phoenix.
Three LSU players — Aiysha Smith, Seimone Augustus and Ke-Ke Tardy — added 12 points each on 17-of-24 shooting.
UW-Green Bay (28-4), champions of the Horizon League and ranked 20th in the AP poll, was led by the 6-3 senior center Johnson with a career-high 29 points on 12-of-18 shooting. The Phoenix, who lead the nation in three-point shooting at 43.5 percent, shot 43.1 percent from the field (28 of 65) including 6-of-19 (31.6 percent) from three-point range against the best three-point defending team in the Southeastern Conference.
LSU allowed only 3.2 three-pointers per game and 24.4 percent from the field coming into the game.
However, Johnson dominated the lane at time, but was never double teamed by the Lady Tigers because of the Phoenix’ three-point efficiency.
Kristy Loiselle was the only other Phoenix in double figures scoring with 13 points. However, Natalie Yudt added nine points and Tiffany Mor had eight on 4-of-6 shooting.
Looking to set the tempo for the game, the Lady Tigers ran off to an early 15-9 lead on 7-of-8 shooting with the only missing being a driving layup by Johnson. LSU would make 10 of its first 11 shots from the field in the first nine minutes.
Meanwhile, UW-Green Bay made four of its first five shots from the field before missing consecutive shots before the 14:57 media timeout.
Play did not stop in the first 5:03 of the game.
Behind eight points from Augustus, the Lady Tigers extended the lead to nine points, 25-16, with 9:05 left in the half.
However, with LSU’s Johnson on the bench, the Phoenix countered with the inside play of Mor and Johnson to go on an 8-2 run and cut the lead to 25-22 at the 7:09 media timeout.
LSU answered the run coming out of the timeout, outscoring the Phoenix 10-2 in the next 2:18 including a pair of 24-plus foot three-pointers by Doneeka Hodges. The Lady Tigers led 35-24 on the second of these two treys with 4:51 left in the half.
The Lady Tigers outhustled UW-Green Bay over the final 2:52 of the half, while outscoring the Phoenix 8-2 before Boyer hit a three-pointer with eight seconds remaining.
After leading by as many as 15, LSU led 43-31 at the half on 69 percent shooting from the field (20 of 29). UW-Green Bay was 13 of 31 for 41.9 percent including 3-of-8 from three-point range.
LSU made only 2-of-6 shots in the first 6:25 of the second half and committed four turnovers, as UW-Green Bay crept within six, 47-41, at the 13:35 mark on 4-of-10 shooting.
The Lady Tigers attempted their first free throw of the game at the 13:22 mark, as DeTrina White made 1-of-2 to lead 48-41 with 13:22 to play.
Less than a minute later, LSU’s Johnson was hit in the right eye by UWGB’s Johnson under the basket and was forced to leave the court. According to LSU Athletic Trainer Micki Sandy, Johnson suffered a possible concussion, however, she attempted to return to the game less than three-minutes later unsuccessfully.
While she was out, LSU’s lead expanded from five to 12, 59-47, on a free throw by DeTrina White. However, Doneeka Hodges was also injured at the 9:18 mark and left the game for two minutes.
UW-Green Bay took advantage of the situation to cut the lead back to five, 59-54, with 7:40 remaining.
Hodges returned from the bench, as LSU went on a 9-2 run over the next three minutes to lead 68-56. Again, the Phoenix countered with a 5-0 run of their own including a three-pointer by Loiselle from the left wing to stay within seven, 69-62, at the 3:15 mark.
The Phoenix would get no closer than six points in the final 1:28, as Doneeka Hodges hit a three-pointer from the left wing with 56 seconds remaining and four straight free throws to seal the win.