BATON ROUGE — Porsha Phillips‘ foot was on the three-point line when her would-be tying jumper swished the net at the buzzer, allowing No. 5 Connecticut to edge the No. 7-ranked LSU women’s basketball team, 72-71, on Sunday at the Maravich Center.
After Connecticut’s Renee Montgomery hit her fifth three-pointer of the game with 6.7 seconds to play, Erica White pressed the ball into the front court — heard LSU head coach Pokey Chatman scream that she needed a three-pointer — and passed to Phillips at the top of the key.
Phillips stepped back to shoot but her right foot was still on the three-point line as she released the high-arching jumper. Officials reviewed and upheld the call on the court of a two-point basket.
“I think on many fronts it was a basketball game that was played hard, but that is to be expected at this level,” LSU head coach Pokey Chatman said.
LSU (22-4) had its 43-game home-court winning streak snapped. When the streak started in 2003-04, none of the current Lady Tigers were dressed (though reserve guards Khalilah Mitchell and Marian Whitfield here injured and in street clothes during their redshirt seasons).
Lady Tigers All-American Sylvia Fowles led her team once again with 22 points, 17 rebounds and three blocked shots.
Guard Quianna Chaney added 16 on 7-of-13 shooting, while freshmen Phillips (12 points, five rebounds and four assists) and Allison Hightower (11 points, four rebounds, four assists) came off the bench to keep the Lady Tigers close throughout.
LSU made 30-of-68 shots (44.1 percent), including 4-of-8 from three-point range. Point guard Erica White led LSU with six assists for the second-consecutive game.
UConn (22-2) showed its depth and talent by overcoming a 12-point first-half deficit to win its seventh-straight game in its first trip to Baton Rouge.
“There is an element that we talk to our team about all the time about playing hard with some intelligence and playing together,” Chatman added. “So often I talk about the things we didn’t do and remind you that we are going to play an opponent that if you don’t maximize or capitalize, they are going to be able to punish you. You can’t do that with a quality opponent like Connecticut and expect to be met with good results. You can break it down from the offensive possessions and the end of the game, but at the end of the day we have to be mentally tough enough when you face a quality opponent that can punish you.”
The Huskies shot 47.5 percent from the field (29 of 61), but made 7-of-13 three-point attempts including their last two by Montgomery in the final 2:22 that were their final points of the game.
Montgomery led four UConn players in double figures scoring with 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting and seven assists. She was 5-of-7 from long range and added six rebounds.
Center Tina Charles was 8-of-12 shooting for 17 points and had nine rebounds, but only scored four points and didn’t grab a rebound in the second half. Guard Kalana Green was also 7-of-13 shooting for 15 points, while forward Charde Houston finished with 12 points and seven rebounds.
With the Lady Tigers leading by one with 12:11 left in the first half, Hightower sparked a 13-4 LSU run to build a 30-20 lead with 7:55 to play.
LSU pushed the advantage to 36-24 on a layup by Fowles with 4:44 left before UConn started to catch up with the Lady Tigers on both ends of the court.
The Huskies cut the lead in half before the break, 37-31, and finished a 16-0 run that spanned the two halves by scoring the first 11 points of the second half. Consecutive three pointers by Montgomery and Mel Thomas gave UConn a 42-37 lead with 17:47 to play.
The Lady Tigers worked to tie the game at 46-46 on a three-pointer by Chaney at the 15:01 mark, but the Huskies quickly responded with another 9-0 run to put LSU behind the eight ball.
Still trailing by nine, 62-53, with 8:40 left, LSU got within one with an 8-0 run of its own to trail, 62-61, less than three minutes later.
Trailing by four after a 28-foot three-pointer by Montgomery landed true, LSU got another basket from Phillips before tying the game on a jumper by Chaney with 20 seconds left in the game.
As the Lady Tigers began to celebrate, Montgomery sank another three pointer with less than seven seconds left, leading to Phillips’ buzzer beater that was taken with a foot on the arc.
LSU returns to action on Thursday at 7 p.m. CT when the Lady Tigers travel to Arkansas.
GAME NOTES
– Sylvia Fowles recorded her 13th straight double double with her 22 points and 17 rebounds today. The double double is the 19th of the season and the 54th of her career.
– Fowles moved into 12th-place on LSU’s career scoring list in today’s game. She passed former teammate Temeka Johnson.
– Fowles reached the 20-point plateau for the 23rd time in her career and the ninth time this season.
– Porsha Phillips scored a career-high 12 points today.
– LSU’s 43-game home court win streak was snapped with today’s loss.
LSU HEAD COACH POKEY CHATMAN
Opening Statement…
“I think on many fronts it was a basketball game that was played hard, but that is to be expected at this level. That is the expectation. I think there is another element that we talk to our team about all the time about playing hard with some intelligence and playing together. So often I come in here in the press room and talk about the things we didn’t do and remind you that we are going to play an opponent that if you don’t maximize or capitalize, they are going to be able to punish you. That being said, that opponent was Connecticut today. I can specifically go to the media timeout in the first half under 12, we are in the bonus and my charge to the team was I would like to go to the free throw line six to eight times. Not only did we not get to the line but we had several hollow possessions, lost momentum and five or six points going into the half. We started the second half after you are supposed to go into the locker room, rejuvenate, regroup and get your feet underneath you, and they start the half with and 11-0 run in 2 minutes and 15 seconds and it felt like two seconds. You can’t do that with a quality opponent and expect to be met with good results. You can break it down from the offensive possessions and the end of the game, but at the end of the day we have to be mentally tough enough when you face a quality opponent that can punish you.”
On if she feels UCONN was more aggressive…
“I thought at the end of the first half it was LSU that did not do the things that got us to the point to be in the bonus. One of our game goals was to get us to the free throw line so I am excited in the huddle saying you are running good offense, you are reversing the basketball, getting paint touches and penetrating the gaps, I want to shoot six free throw before we get to the locker room. Not only did we not shoot free throws, we didn’t do a good job of defending as well. In the second half we are in our defense and all of the sudden Mel Thomas is loose for a three. Then all of the sudden there was dribble penetration and it was kind of like we were still in the locker room. I say that because you see the shift in energy and intent when your back is against the wall. It’s a ten foot whole, nine foot ladder when your opponent connects.”
On the attempt to get to the foul line…
“That is the goal, to attack. That is part of the mental toughness of understanding the opportunity that is in front of you. It is one of those things where they are running people at Sylvia and it is not as easy as you think because they know she is in foul trouble so they are going to offer a lot of help. I didn’t care who got to the free throw line. I wanted LSU to get to the line. That foul could have been on anybody. When you hone in on one thing you forget about options two, three and four. I wanted to get to the free throw line on several fronts. That was not just a Sylvia thing, that’s an LSU thing. That was the goal and we failed that.”
LSU PLAYER QUOTES
Forward Porsha Phillips
On the final shot …
“I was really confident about the shot. I took it and I thought it was a three (pointer). It counted as a two. There were like three seconds on the shot clock, and I just shot it and it went in. Erica (White) was going to take the shot, but she passed it to me and I just shot it.”
On the loss …
“It was a tough loss. We all played together. Ashley (Thomas) got hurt so I had to step up a little bit. My teammates just encouraged me.”
Center Sylvia Fowles
On playing unselfishly …
“That is the beauty of our team. RaShonta (LeBlanc) passed up a couple of shots, and quite a few of our players passed up a couple of shots just to get a better shot. That was something we work on and something we stress.”
On playing Connecticut …
“It was going to be a battle. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, so we had to come in with a fight. Every time we made points, they’d drive back and go up by six or they go up by seven. We had to take it possession by possession just to get back within the lead. All of us were thinking the same thing (of winning the game), but it is just the mental aspect of going out there and doing it. You can say what you want but you just have to go out there and prove yourself that you’re not going to lose the game. You are going to win.”
UCONN QUOTES
HEAD COACH GENO AURIEMMA QUOTES
On if he felt Porsha Phillips‘ last-second shot was a three pointer…
“From where we were standing we couldn’t see where her (Phillips) feet were. We did see the official signal that it was a two pointer when the shot went up. You have to have confidence that that call is going to hold up. The way the game was played you kind of knew it was going to go in. At that point in the game, with the way the game was unfolding, you wouldn’t be surprised at anything that happened.”
On if this game felt like an NCAA tournament game…
“It did because obviously they are one of the premiere teams in the country and this place (Pete Maravich Assembly Center) is one of the more difficult places in America to play judging by their winning streak. I don’t know if we have seen anybody with as many different things you have to defend against. We generally don’t give up that many points, but in the first half we couldn’t do anything to stop them. You spend so much time trying to guard Sylvia Fowles with more than one person. You generally don’t get that well played of a game by both teams every night. I can’t think of anything bad about this game. It is a shame that LSU had to lose. They certainly played well enough to win as well.”
On Renee Montgomery’s two key three pointers…
“Her first one with two minutes left was way beyond the NBA three-point line. Her last one to win it, almost looked like the Michael Jordan one (in the 1998 NBA Finals), she dribbled, Erica (White) fell down and she backs up to knock it in. I got the game flashing in my eyes because I thought they were going to call an offensive foul, but there wasn’t an offensive foul, Erica just fell down.”
G Renee Montgomery
On her game-winning three pointer…
“When the screen came, they went behind it so I found an opening and took it. Coach (Auriemma) told me in the shoot around if they ever go behind the screen to take the shot.”
On what this win means to the team…
“This is a big win. Just for our team’s confidence. We won’t play a team ranked that high for the rest of the season. So to get a big win like this before the tournament is good for us.”
On Porsha Phillips‘ last-second shot…
“I knew her foot was on the line because right when she shot it the referee put up the two-point signal. I figured the referee saw it right when it happened and that she wasn’t going to change her mind after that.”