GREENVILLE, S.C. — LSU’s top-ranked and No. 1 seeded Lady Tigers basketball team was forced to come from behind to squeak past No. 9 seeded Alabama, 60-59, in the second-round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament on Friday afternoon in the BI-LO Center.
LSU (28-1) trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half and by eight with 9:47 in the second half. A valiant Lady Tigers come-back effort and an official replay to overturn a potential game-tying three-pointer by Alabama (14-15) at the end of the game secured the victory for LSU.
The Lady Tigers will face fourth-seeded Georgia at 6 p.m. CST in the semifinals. The Lady Bulldogs defeated Ole Miss, 87-65, Friday night.
“I give credit to Alabama for a hard fought game on both sides of the court,” LSU head coach Pokey Chatman said. “They took us out of what we wanted to do, but fortunately we were able to gain some momentum in the end with some good defense and crucial shots.”
Down 57-53 with 2:22 left to play, LSU’s Florence Williams, Sylvia Fowles and Scholanda Hoston each hit key shots in the next minute of play to give the Lady Tigers a 58-57 lead with 1:09 left.
Williams and Hoston each hit lay-ups, while Fowles hit one of two free throws.
SEC Player of the Year Seimone Augustus, who finished the game with a team-high 20 points, connected on both free throw attempts with 25 seconds left to give LSU a three-point lead.
Alabama’s Natasha Gamble hit a three-pointer with five seconds left to play, but it was overturned and called a two-pointer, giving the Lady Tigers a 60-59 lead.
Hoston missed both free throw attempts with 4.4 seconds to play but Alabama did not get a shot off before the final buzzer.
With 4:14 left in the first half, LSU trailed 29-19 and used an 11-0 run to retake the lead 30-29 with 17:17 left to play, holding Alabama scoreless for almost eight minutes during the run. But, the Crimson Tide retook the lead on the next possession and did not trail again until 1:09 left in the game.
Temeka Johnson added 10 points and five rebounds in the victory, while Sylvia Fowles had seven points and seven rebounds off the bench.
Augustus contributed six rebounds to LSU’s 38 boards in the game, tying Alabama in that category. The Lady Tigers shot 41.1 percent from the floor and held Alabama to 33.9 percent. The Crimson Tide did hit for nine three-pointers.
Monique Bivins led Alabama with 20 points, including five three-pointers, while Krystle Johnson had 16 points and Natasha Gambles added 12 points.
GAME NOTES
- LSU received the SEC regular-season trophy in a brief ceremony before the game on Friday.
- Seimone Augustus reached double figures in the scoring for the 55th straight game, scoring at least 20 for the 41st time in her career.
- Temeka Johnson moved into second-place in career starts, starting her 120th game.
- LSU advances to the semifinals of the SEC Tournament for the fourth straight year.