BATON ROUGE — Sophomore guard Seimone Augustus scored 21 points and junior guard Temeka Johnson added 17 with 12 assists, as fourth-seeded LSU advanced to the second round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, 83-66, over 14th-seeded Austin Peay on Sunday evening the Maravich Center.
LSU (24-7) will face 12th-seeded Maryland in the second round on Tuesday at 8 p.m. CST in Baton Rouge. Maryland (18-12), which upset No. 5-seeded Miami (Fla.) 86-85 in the first game of the evening, will face LSU for the third time in school history and the first time since 1987.
Austin Peay, NCAA tournament representatives of the Ohio Valley Conference for the past four seasons, lost for the fifth time in five all-time NCAA Tournament appearances.
First-year head coach Andy Blackston’s Lady Governors finished the season 23-8.
Augustus made 10-of-15 shots while adding five rebounds and three steals to pace the upstart Lady Tigers. Johnson’s double double was her eighth of the season.
Freshman forward Hanna Biernacka and junior forward Tillie Willis each notched double digits scoring with 13 and 11, respectively.
The Lady Tigers never trailed and led by as many as 13 in the first half before taking a 40-30 lead into the lockerroom. LSU shot nearly 55 percent in the half.
The Lady Governors cut the lead to five only 2:23 into the second half on a three pointer by guard Cassandra Peek, however, they were unable to sustain the run and never got within 10 points after the 13-minute mark. LSU led by as many as 19 in the final minutes.
Guard Kara Bergeron led Austin Peay with 20 points including 6-of-14 three pointers. Guard Cassandra Peek and forward Gerlonda Hardin each tallied 12 points.
Austin Peay finished the game shooting 48 percent from the field (24 of 55) and made 11-of-24 from beyond the arc (45.8 percent). The Lady Governors committed 21 turnovers while forcing only nine.
LSU’s acting head coach Dana ‘Pokey’ Chatman won her first NCAA Tournament game.
Quotes from players and coaches are now available on the NCAA 1st/2nd Round Tournament Information Page.