LEXINGTON, Ky. — LSU’s 14th ranked Lady Tigers got a jumper from Doneeka Hodges with 20 seconds left to play and Temeka Johnson grabbed a rebound off her own miss from a free throw attempt with 0.5 second left to seal a 70-69 victory at Kentucky on Sunday afternoon in Southeastern Conference action.
Kentucky (8-8, 0-3 SEC) led 20-8 in the first half before LSU (15-2, 3-0 SEC) used a 16-4 run to take the first lead of the game with 2:24 left to play in the first half. The Lady Tigers held the Wildcats without a point for over seven minutes in the opening 20 mintes of play to take a 32-29 lead into the locker room.
LSU then jumped out to a six-point lead in the second half before UK stormed back thanks to a 13-2 run and took a 45-40 lead. After that the game went back and forth before LSU pull it out at the end.
“I give a lot of credit to Kentucky,” LSU associate coach Pokey Chatman said. “They played an outstanding game and took us out of our game. They were able to take us out of our motion offense, but showed a lot of heart at the end of the game.”
LSU’s bright spot in the first half was Seimone Augustus who scored 16 of the Lady Tigers’ 32 points. The sophomore finished the game with 20 points.
Hodges ended with 16 points, including seven in the final 2:30 of the game. Wendlyn Jones added 13 points off the bench, while Hanna Biernacka had 10 points.
The Lady Tigers outrebounded Kentucky 39-29 led by Augustus’ nine boards and Biernacka added seven.
Sara Potts led Kentucky with 16 points and eight rebounds. She also connected on four 3-point field goals. The Widlcats as a team hit 10 three’s and 43.5 percent of their field goals.
LSU, which extended its win streak to 14 straight games, connected on 48.3 percent of their field goals.
The Lady Tigers travel to Fayetteville, Ark., on Thursday to battle Arkansas at 7 p.m. in Bud Walton Arena.