NASHVILLE, Tenn. — With 6-6 center Sylvia Fowles on the floor on Monday, LSU dominated Washington. Without, well, not so much. Luckily for the Lady Tigers, Fowles played most of the second half to spark a 72-49 victory and put LSU in the Sweet 16 for the fourth-straight season.
LSU (29-3) will travel to San Antonio’s AT&T Center where they will face No. 4-seeded DePaul in the regional semifinal on Saturday at 11 a.m.
Fowles picked up two fouls in the first 93 seconds of the first half and LSU (29-3) trailed 26-23 at the half.
When she returned, Fowles scored two baskets in the first two minutes and opened room for SEC Player of the Year Seimone Augustus to work.
Augustus scored 18 of her game-high 26 points in the second half, making 11-of-21 shots, grabbing nine rebounds and dishing four assists.
She spearheaded a 17-2 run midway through the half to give LSU a 54-40 lead.
Fowles finished with 10 points, seven rebounds and two steals in only 21 minutes. She finished with four fouls, continuing the season-long streak of no disqualifications for LSU during the 2005-06 season.
LSU guard Scholanda Hoston, who twice left the game with craps in her lefts and torso, had 13 points and two steals in 36 minutes. Point guard Erica White had nine points, seven rebounds and did not turn the ball over in 27 minutes.
LSU overcame 28-percent shooting in the first half by making 18-of-39 second-half shots to pull away.
After trailing 38-37 with 14:02 to play, the Lady Tigers allowed only four field goals the rest of the way and outscored the Huskies, 35-11.
Washington (19-11) shot 32 percent in the season-ending loss. The Huskies were led by Cameo Hicks who scored 17 points on 8-of-17 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds.
The rest of the team rest of the team was 12-of-47 shooting.
LSU opened an 11-2 lead in the first four minutes of the game, forcing Washington head coach June Daugherty to call a 30-second timeout while her team missed its first five shots.
With Fowles on the bench with two fouls less than two minutes into the game, the Huskies responded on both ends of the court coming out of the timeout. Washington went on a 10-0 run to take the lead while holding the Lady Tigers without a field goal for 7:37.
The Lady Tigers’ offensive woes continued without Fowles in the paint. After starting 4-of-7 from the field, LSU made only two of its next 18 shots to fall behind 18-16.
LSU tied the game at 22-22 on a jumper by Florence Williams, but trailed at the half 26-23.
Without Fowles on the floor for more than 18 minutes of the first half, LSU shot only 28 percent from the field and were out-rebounded by the Huskies, 28-16.
LSU held Washington to just 34 percent to stay close.
With their top seed and tournament life in jeopardy, LSU came out hot to start the second half, jumping out to a 37-30 lead after a 14-4 run.
Washington answered the run with eight-straight of their own to re-take the lead, 38-37, with 14:02 to play.
Not the be outdone in her final tournament, Augustus sparked a 17-2 run while Washington chilled from the field. The senior scored 10 points during the span of 7:13 that the Huskies went without a field goal.
LSU led 58-42 with 6:01 to play.
2006 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship
Second Round
Memorial Gymnasium ? Nashville, Tennessee
Monday, March 20, 2006
LSU Quotes
Head Coach Pokey Chatman
I thought in the first half we were fortunate to be down by only three points. Washington did a great job of executing their scouting report defense in terms of players they were backing off of, players they were double teaming, sagging, matching up extremely well. On top of that I thought they did a great job on the offensive boards. I’m pretty sure it was about seven or eight offensive boards in the first half that kept them going. I credit Ashley Thomas for the yeoman work that she did the first half with Sylvia (Fowles) sitting out seventeen and a half or 18 minutes in the first half with two fouls. That was the reason we were able to keep it close. Fortunately, we came out in the second half and did a much better job executing our half-court offense, getting shots that we wanted, reversing the basketball, getting paint touches, getting looks, getting in rhythm. More importantly, we knew this game would come down to our ability to rebound the basketball. I thought we did a good job of that. Also, we shot 21 free throws. That was nice to see.
On what she told the team at halftime:
I appealed to their competitive nature and they responded. We talk to our kids all the time about not wanting to be lucky. We were just fortunate not to be in a hole at the half. Washington is excellent in transition, excellent in the half court, excellent in the rebounding end of it. I think they had eight offensive rebounds at the half. We knew this was something we had to clean up. I thought we did a tremendous job in the second half.
On how she feels after two wins:
I’m happy with the wins, especially this time of year. I’m pleased with the fact that the things that need correcting we can correct. That’s a positive thing. It’s good knowing we can travel back to Baton Rouge and correct those things. It brings me pleasure to know we can win going away, knowing we were not on top of our game and can go back and fix what we didn’t do well. I’m happy with that.
# 32 Scholanda Hoston
On was it cramps that made her go down during the game:
It was cramps both times.
On how much energy were you and your teammates exerting trying to come back:
We were exerting a lot of energy. A lot of that we brought upon ourselves by not coming out maintaining how we started in the first half. We kind of put ourselves in the hole by not executing the way we were capable of so we had to work a harder to get back to where we were in the beginning of the game.
# 33 Seimone Augustus
On what clicked to make you take the game over:
It was just time to pick it up. I didn’t pay attention to the score, we don’t really focus on the score. You can figure the outcome of the game by the way the crowd is reacting. We weren’t energized, we didn’t have any energy. Our offense wasn’t click the way it should have been and our defense wasn’t the best. It was just the time that we needed to pick it up especially in the second half.
On having Kristen O’Neill guarding you:
They were playing great defense the whole game. The only thing that changed was the fact that our offense started to move. It’s difficult to get touches or shots where you want to get shots when our offense isn’t executing and being as affective as it should be. Her defense was great. It was what we expected, to get out there and get in my jersey, limit my touches and make sure it was a difficult shot every time I came down. I applaud her for that. In the second half it was a different story.
# 34 Sylvia Fowles
On being on the bench in the first half:
It was a little frustrating having to sit on the sideline having to watch my team go out there and bang but overall I think we did a good job to hold us to where we had to be.
University of Washington Quotes
Head Coach June Daughtery
I’m very proud of our team. We came out in the tournament and we played very well two days ago against Minnesota. I thought coming into this game that we came out with a lot of confidence. Our team did an amazing job of executing the game plan that we put in place, obviously quick turnaround getting ready for a tremendous team like LSU. First half we were able to limit (Seimone) Augustus’ touches, she only got eight shots off, but she ended up getting way too many looks the second half. When that happens things become very easy for LSU in the scoring department and the game certainly took a tough turn for us in the second half.
On Why she went to Kristen O’Neill at the point
No doubt, I’m so proud of Kristen, and Nick (Nicole Castro) and Kayla (Burt), they’ve been unbelievable seniors for five years in our program. I don’t think there’s a better group of five seniors anywhere. They’ve gone through an enormous amount, and they have just done a great job, been amazing leaders in our program. Kristen, early we were having problems getting the ball reversed. I thought Emily (Florence) was having a bit of trouble with the personnel that was on her. Kristen is about 6’2” and she came in and really got our offense going a little bit faster. She came up with some key rebounds as well.
On what she said to the team at halftime
We tried to remind them of the scout because I thought the last four or five minutes in the first half we were forgetting the rules that we had put in and implemented for the scout that was working very well for us. LSU is going to make some changes, they’re going to start playing harder and we reminded them how important their poise was going to be when they made their run, whether it’s an offensive change up or a defensive change up. Those were just some changes that I thought needed to be made.
# 33 Kristen O’Neill-G
On the season:
At the beginning of the year, nobody expected us to do very much, being picked to finish at the bottom of the conference. We just believed in ourselves and knew we were better than that. We had some highs and lows throughout the season. We pulled together. I’m so proud of this group for, first of all, making the tournament. I know we were good enough to be here. We put up a good fight, especially in the first half of this game. I definitely salute LSU on their efforts. They’re a very talented team.
#5 Cameo Hicks-G
On the second half:
In the second half LSU was really tough. They brought the energy. They got their offense flowing. The first half we played tough. We just didn’t bring the energy in the second half.
#32 Andrea Plouffe-F
On coming out in the second half:
We were up, so of course we had confidence in ourselves. We just thought, regardless of whether Sylvia Fowles got in, we could keep pushing and win this game. We always thought we had a chance. We never doubted ourselves.