AUSTIN, Texas — Sylvia Fowles scored 21 points and No. 3 LSU rallied from 11 points down in the final 12 minutes to earn its fifth-straight trip to the Sweet 16, 49-43, over No. 11-seed West Virginia.
The Lady Tigers (28-7) trailed 35-24 with 12 minutes to play, but went on a 12-0 run over the next five minutes to get back into the game.
Fowles, who made 9-of-10 field goals, scored 14 of her team’s 28 second-half points including a short jumper with 5:32 to play that put the Lady Tigers ahead for good, 40-39.
LSU will face 10th-seeded Florida State (24-9) on Saturday at the SaveMart Center in Fresno, Calif. Game times will be determined on Tuesday. The Seminoles defeated No. 2-seed Stanford late Monday in Palo Alto, 68-61, to advance to its first Sweet 16.
The Lady Tigers hold a 3-2 all-time advantage over Florida State, with LSU winning the most recent meeting on Dec. 27, 2003, at the Russell Athletic Shootout in Atlanta, 75-68. The other four meetings came between 1989-1992, each in the respective teams’ early season home tournaments.
LSU guard Quianna Chaney added 11 points including three three-pointers, while Erica White (8) and RaShonta LeBlanc (7) combined for 15 points and nine assists.
LSU finished 19-of-44 shooting (43 percent), making only 4-of-16 three-pointers and 7-of-13 free throws. The Lady Tigers committed 15 turnovers.
West Virginia (21-11), which lost its season-opener to LSU in Baton Rouge by 39, didn’t score in the final 2:38. They shot only 38 percent from the field (18-48) including 1-of-12 from three-point range.
Ashley Powell led the Mountaineers with 13 points on 6-of-13 shooting, but committed five of their 14 turnovers. Chakhia Cole scored 11 points and grabbed five rebounds.
Fowles, who was frustrated early with three and four players surrounding her, broke out of her funk during LSU’s big second-half run. She finished with 13 rebounds for her 61st career double double. She also blocked two shots.
After building a 16-6 lead in the first 10 minutes, LSU looked to be on its way to another blowout victory. However, West Virginia packed into a 2-3 zone that LSU wasn’t able to again shoot its way out of.
The Lady Tigers cold shooting from the perimeter allowed the Mountaineers to creep back into the game late in the first half and cut the LSU lead to 21-18 at the half.
LSU shot only 36 percent in the first 20 minutes, and it only got worse to start the second half.
LSU missed 9-of-10 shots over nearly 12 minutes of game time and committed five turnovers, allowing West Virginia to not only take the lead but extend it to 35-24 with just more than 12 minutes to play.
Seeing its season flash before its eyes after allowing a 22-3 run, LSU came out of a timeout and responded offensively.
With leading scorer Olayinka Sanni on the bench after picking up her fourth foul with 15:19 left, Fowles went to work in the post. The 6-6 center scored six points in a 12-0 LSU run that gave the Lady Tigers a 36-35 lead.
With less than four mintues to play, LSU held a 42-39 lead when Sanni returned.
Still leading by one with under two minutes left, LeBlanc found Fowles open in the paint for an easy layup and a 46-43 lead.
LSU was able to stop West Virginia on its next possession and made 3-of-4 free throws down the stretch to save the victory.
For the second time in history of program, the Lady Tigers scored under 50 points and won. The other time was earlier this season at South Carolina (49-46 on Feb. 4, 2007).
Game #2 Notes
LSU vs. West Virginia
NCAA Tournament Second Round
Austin, Texas
March 19, 2007
- With the win, LSU improves to 28-7 on the year. The win puts LSU acting head coach Bob Starkey at 2-0 now. The Lady Tigers are now 30-16 overall in NCAA Tournament action, 11-4 in NCAA Second Round games, and 5-1 as a No. 3 seed.
- LSU now advances to the Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA Tournament for the fifth consecutive year. The Lady Tigers will face the winner of tonight’s Stanford-Florida State game in the Fresno Regional on Saturday, March 24.
- With the loss, West Virginia goes to 21-11 on the season. The Mountaineers’ all-time mark in NCAA Tournament action is now 3-4. Mike Carey is 107-78 in his sixth season as the head coach at West Virginia and 395-180 in his 19th season overall.
- This marked the second time this season?and the second time in school history?that LSU won a game while scoring under 50 points. Earlier this season, the Lady Tigers registered a 49-46 win over South Carolina in Columbia, S.C.
- LSU’s 21 points at halftime weren’t the Lady Tigers’ lowest scoring total for the first period this season, but they didn’t miss the mark by much. LSU tallied just 19 points in the opening period against Louisiana Tech on December 30 in New Orleans (a 61-44 win) then scored just 21 points in the initial frame versus Ole Miss in Oxford, Miss., on January 11 (a 77-74 loss).
- With West Virginia scoring 18 points in the first half, it marked the 15th time this season that LSU had held its opponents to under 20 points in the opening period.
- LSU’s 49-43 win over West Virginia was in stark contrast to the Lady Tigers’ 64-25 victory over the Mountaineers in the 2006-07 season opener.
Second Round – Game Two Quotes
Monday, March 19, 2007
Austin Regional 1st & 2nd Round
Austin, Texas
LSU Head Coach Bob Starkey
Opening Statement:
First thing I’d like to do is congratulate West Virginia on a great game. I thought they did an excellent job tonight?they had a good game plan that they executed well. They really played hard and we knew it was going to be a competitive ball game. I was sincere earlier when I said that they were a much improved team and we expected them to be competitive. I though [guard] RaShonta’s [LeBlanc] defense on Owens was absolutely critical. Owens just didn’t get any good looks and she is a kid that has really played well for them; she is a tremendous shooter and she was one of the people we were concerted about, and RaShonta just stayed with her throughout the whole time.
On falling behind in the second half: We had some opportunities in the first half where we didn’t separate from West Virginia, and we got ourselves into some trouble. In the second half West Virginia did some things that would separate them from us. At that point we wanted to talk about playing it one possession at a time, we wanted a good defensive stop, and then work on our offense from there.
On Quianna Chaney‘s three-point shot: At that time, we hoped that her shot would be a turning point. We weren’t necessarily looking for that kind of shot to provide a spark of energy, but we needed players that stepped up and made plays. When the shots weren’t falling, we should have been getting on the offensive glass more, but the 3 by Q was big.
On him as head coach: I really think there is way too much being made out of me being a coach and a leader. We are not doing anything different, but to me the story is the kids. They are they ones who have had to step up?they made plays, they worked hard, they lifted each other ? and they have a great desire to compete and win.
On the play of Sylvia Fowles: She is it for us. The thing I think that is somewhat overlooked is her defensive contribution. She had a couple of blocks in that run, she started to get more active in the paint defensively, and she affects so many phases of the game. She had a tough first half, I think she got frustrated which affected her game then. In the second half, she got some things going and positively affected other aspects of her game. Our kids feed off of things she does, and I think that was evident during the run.
Jr., Center, Sylvia Fowles
On Coach Starkey’s coaching style: A lot of people don’t see Coach Starkey up front, but behind the scenes he brings the same intensity and energy to the table like coach Chatman. I think his enthusiasm was there tonight, and he got on us a little bit because he knew we could play better than what we were there doing.
On advancing to the Sweet 16: It is good that we won, but we have been at that stage before. We can celebrate now, but we will also keep a level head, get back to Baton Rouge and work on some things we didn’t do quite well. We know that the further we get, the harder our opponents are going to be, so we still have a lot of work to do.
Jr., Guard, Erica White
On keeping her composure despite an 11-point deficit: I’m always thinking that I am a poised point guard. I tell myself not go get rattled or else it will carry over to the team. I always try to keep a level head and let the team know that there is nothing to worry about. Even if we turn the ball over once, I can still get an assist the next time.
Jr., Guard RaShonta LeBlanc LeBlanc
On climbing back from a 11 point deficit: The most important thing coach Starkey told us in the huddle was don’t try to take it back all at once, take it possession by possession, which we executed out on the court.
On the team’s 12-0 run in the second half to reclaim the lead: Before that run, I wasn’t really frustrated during that stretch because I knew that my teammates had my back. I knew that if I played defense, and did what I had to do defensively, then I was helping my team even if the shots weren’t falling for us. But Quianna’s shot was great for us and it got us going.
West Virginia Head Coach, Mike Carey
Opening Statement: First of all, let me say, I’m very, very proud of our basketball team. They showed a lot of heart; came out and played extremely hard. We had a lot of opportunities. LSU made some big plays down the stretch, we didn’t and they won the basketball game. Give a lot of credit. I think nobody gave us a chance to be in this basketball game and I think our players deserve all of the credit. We had opportunities and we could have very easily won this game.
On LSU’s defense and West Virginia’s offensive adjustments: They were a good defensive team. We knew coming in here. We felt our defense was good enough to keep it where we could win the game. Their defense was good enough too. We just didn’t do a good job with the ball. We didn’t do a good job weakside, setting things up, and picking up each other. It just seems like we chased the ball all night and tried to force the issue. You know we made some adjustments at halftime, where we started using our post getting our passes trying to play defense up high, and that’s when we took our lead. They made some adjustments too, defensively they were taking that away. We just had some good looks, I think we were 1-12 from three, if you hit a couple of them, then it’d be a different story.
Forward, Chakhia Cole
On being in foul trouble: It wasn’t too difficult. We practice against each other; everyone knows their spot. Everyone coming into the game knows there role and what they are supposed to do and how they are supposed to produce. Hats off to Tameka, she did a very good job out there, you know we’re going to miss her next year we have to pick it up for our teammate. You know [center Olayinka Sanni] was in foul trouble. We just all have to come together and pick it up as a unit and that’s what we tried to do.
Sr., Guard, Ashley Powell
On offensive efforts tonight: It was good. It was nothing really. I just came to the team with the mindset that I didn’t want to go home. The Sweet 16 sounds really great and I just competed as hard as I could but the man above, God, is first. I just came out and competed hard for my teammates and my coach.
Olayinka Sanni
On the level of confidence during the game: I think our confidence was high coming into this game. We all fought to play knowing that if we won we would get to play at least one more game in the Sweet 16. But just going down the stretch we were anxious because we were up by 11 and just knowing that we were going to make it thorough; just thinking positive and being positive throughout the whole game.