AUBURN, Ala. — LSU’s top-ranked Lady Tigers basketball team held off a second-half Auburn surge and hang on for a 62-57 victory on Sunday afternoon in Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum.
The win for LSU (25-1, 12-0 SEC) was the 12 straight overall and marked the first time in Lady Tigers’ history the program has won 12 SEC games.
LSU led 33-22 at the break after using a 14-0 run and holding Auburn (14-11, 5-7 SEC) with out a point for over a seven minute span in the tail end of the first half.
The Lady Tigers then jumped out to a 14-point lead, 48-34, with 12:07 left in the game before Auburn went on a 19-6 run to cut the lead to one. LSU then held Auburn without a field goal for the final four minutes of play to come away with the win.
“This was a game between two very good basketball teams,” LSU head coach Pokey Chatman said. “We were fortunate to come out of there with a victory.”
Seimone Augustus, who finished with a game-high 22 points, connected on six for six from the free throw line after Auburn had cut the lead to one to help seal the victory. Sylvia Fowles added 19 points, 13 rebounds and four blocked shots to the win for the Lady Tigers.
Natasha Brackett led Auburn with 18 points, while Taneshia Thompson added 13 and Nicole Louden had 12.
Defense was a big part of the game. LSU’s defense held Auburn to 35.5 percent shooting from the floor, collected seven blocked shots and 10 steals. Auburn’s defense held LSU to 36.7 percent shooting from the floor for the game.
“We were the two top defensive teams in the conference going at it and I don’t think it was a fluke in Baton Rouge and it was not a fluke tonight,” Chatman said. “It was a classic match-up of two defensive minded teams.”
The Lady Tigers also won the battle on the boards, outrebounding Auburn 44-39. Fowles led the way with her 13 rebounds and Wendlyn Jones added nine. Temeka Johnson, who led LSU with eight assists, contributed six rebounds as well.
LSU will be playing for a chance to win at least a share of the program’s first SEC regular season title on Thursday night when they travel to Fayetteville, Ark., for a 7 p.m. CST tip against Arkansas in Bud Walton Arena.
GAME NOTES
- Seimone Augustus scored in double figures in 52 straight games and in 87 of her 95 career games.
- Augustus moved into sixth-place on LSU’s career scoring list, passing Katrina Hibbert.
- Augustus reached 20 points for the 40th time in her career.
- Sylvia Fowles collected her 10th double-double of the season.
- LSU has 12 wins in the SEC for the first time in school history.
- LSU’s 25-1 record is the best after 26 games in the program’s history.
- LSU will play for a share of the SEC regular season title, the first in school history, on Thursday at Arkansas.