NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Playing without its starting point guard in the final 25 minutes, the No. 3-seeded LSU women’s basketball team turned in an inspiring effort and withstood a late Mississippi State rally to win its sixth straight game, 63-58, in the second round of the 2009 Southeastern Conference Tournament on Friday night at Alltel Arena.
The Lady Tigers (18-9) will take on No. 2-seeded Vanderbilt at 8 p.m. CT Saturday in the second semifinal. The Commodores were a 69-61 winner over Georgia earlier on Friday. Top seed Auburn faces No. 5-seeded Tennessee in the first game at 5:30 p.m. CT. Both contests will be televised live on Fox Sports Net South/Southwest.
LSU avenged two regular season losses to Mississippi State and did so without the services of sophomore guard Latear Eason for the most of the contest. Junior guard Allison Hightower continued to prove her All-SEC First Team status when she poured in a career-high 23 points ? 19 in the second half ? in an uplifting performance. Eason sustained a neck injury on a collision with 5:33 to go in the first half and was carted off the floor and taken to Baptist Springhill Hospital for x-rays. She stated she had neck pain but there was no loss of body movement.
UPDATE: On Sunday, LSU announced that results of the x-rays were negative, and Eason rested comfortably Saturday night. Her availability for Sunday’s game is questionable.
“I thought tonight was a crazy win for us,” LSU head coach Van Chancellor said. “This was such a difficult matchup. They (Mississippi State) are long, lean and do a lot of things and already beat us twice this season. And we lose Eason and our kids jumped in there and found a way to win. I can’t say enough about (Allison) Hightower. I don’t think there is any kid that has done for her team what Allison has done.”
Freshman forward LaSondra Barrett, the SEC Co-Freshman of the Year, added 11 points and sophomore guard Katherine Graham chipped in five points and a team-high seven rebounds. Freshman guard Destini Hughes spelled Eason and delivered seven points and a team-high three steals in 26 minutes.
LSU went up 17-16 on a Kristen Morris layup before Eason suffered her injury. After nearly a 10-minute delay, play resumed and LSU built a six-point lead without the presence of its starting point guard. Barrett converted a layup and Graham buried a jumper to give the Lady Tigers a 27-21 advantage into the locker room.
LSU led by as many as 16 points in the second half with its largest lead coming at the 13:27 point. A 15-5 run highlighted by a pair of nifty Hightower runners lifted the Lady Tigers to a 42-26 lead. At the 9:31 mark, LSU still led 50-36 before the Lady Bulldogs mounted a run that closed the deficit to three following an Alexis Rack layup.
Hightower then took over, firing in two straight jumpers and draining a free throw to put LSU in front 57-49 with 4:16 to go. She scored seven consecutive points during a three-minute span.
Barrett’s two free throws with 25 second remaining made it 63-58, and Rack missed a shot on the other end as time eventually expired. Rack finished with 14 points.
Mississippi State went to the free throw line 28 times, making 22 of those shots. LSU finished at 51 percent from the floor on 26-of-51 shooting.
LSU NOTES (courtesy of the SEC)
Session 4 attendance was 5,041
LSU is now 18-9, 11-4 in the Southeastern Conference.
The Tigers are now 39-6 all-time against Mississippi State, but tonight’s win broke a two game skid to the Bulldogs, who won both previous match-ups this season.
Junior guard Allison Hightower scored 23 points to lead LSU in scoring for the 16th time this season.
Freshman forward LaSondra Barrett added 11 points, the 17th time this season she has scored in double figures, and the sixth game in a row.
LSU eclipsed the .500 mark in all-time SEC Tournament play with tonight’s win, and are now 29-28 in the event.
The Tigers continue to ride the wave of their season-long winning streak, which now stands at six games, dating back to a Feb. 8 loss at Mississippi State.
LSU won the battle on the boards (33-31), bench points (16-8), and points in the paint (30-20).
MISSISSIPPI STATE NOTES
Mississippi State is now 22-9 overall, 9-7 in the Southeastern Conference.
The Bulldogs are now 12-30 all-time in the SEC Tournament, including an 0-4 mark against the Lady Tigers.
After being held without a three-pointer for the first time in her last 24 games, junior guard Alexis Rack connected for her first three of the SEC Tournament with 31.6 seconds remaining in the second half. Rack finished the game 1 of 6 from three-point range.
Rack led State in scoring for the 17th time this season, and for the second consecutive game with 14 points.
Rack was joined in double figures by junior forward Chanel Mokango, whose 11 points and 10 rebounds represented her second double-double of the season, and second in as many games.
LSU Quotes
THE MODERATOR: We’re joined by LSU, have a brief statement on the sophomore guard Latear Eason was taken to Baptist Spring Hill Hospital for x rays following a collision at the 5:33 mark. In the first half, she stated she had severe neck pain, but no loss of body movement. We are awaiting the results of the x rays at this time. We’re joined by LSU head coach Van Chancellor, Allison Hightower, and LaSondra Barrett. Coach?
COACH CHANCELLOR: I thought tonight it was a crazy win for us. This was a difficult match up for us. They’re long, they’re lean, they do a lot of things and they already beat us twice. And we lose Eason, and our kids jumped in there, we found a way to win.
I can’t say enough for Hightower, I don’t think there is any kid that has done for her team than Allison Hightower.
Any questions? I’m spent, staying up till 11:00 is hard on an old man.
Q. There were nightmares
COACH CHANCELLOR: Yeah, nightmares of the game in Baton Rouge when she made it, and I told ’em not to back up off of her. When she got to the free throw line, I felt good about her.
She has been a 75% free throw shooter, she is a freshman, but I thought if she made the first one, she would make the second, and we went up five. I thought that Hightower and I could squeeze it out then.
Q. You talked on the teleconference earlier this week about Allison and her stepping up. It really looked like she put the team on her back and carried you guys to the next round tonight. Talk about what she did.
COACH CHANCELLOR: When your coach calls every play at the end of the game for you, you ought to carry it on your back. No, I’m kidding you. She got the ball, we screamed for her, they just didn’t have an answer for her.
She played unbelievably well tonight. I thought in the first half she came in here and wanted it so bad, she tried too hard. She got in foul trouble and that was a blessing in disguise.
We held on for a while and that allowed us to rest her, and she was 10 for 17, three rebounds. She is the real thing. If we were advertising Coca Cola, Allison Hightower was Coca Cola.
Q. Allison, a comment on your victory?
ALLISON HIGHTOWER: We got the victory, we have to play well against Vandy tomorrow night and get ready for them.
COACH CHANCELLOR: That’s about as much as she has said all year, quiet girl.
Q. LaSondra, what are you going to do for the semifinals?
LaSONDRA BARRETT: Prepare and rest and do what we need to win, do what the coaches tell us.
COACH CHANCELLOR: Is that about it tonight?
Q. I’m going to ask you about Mississippi State. Do you think they’re a tournament team?
COACH CHANCELLOR: There is no doubt in my mind they’re an NCAA tournament team. I tell you how to successfully diet, if it tastes good, spit it out.
And let me tell you about the NCAA, throw all the resumes out, and say who do I not want to play in the NCAA playoffs, I’m telling you right now the Mississippi State Lady Bull Dogs, I’ve had enough, I don’t want to play them for another year.
Yes, they’re one of the 33 best teams out there. And I don’t do this I didn’t do this when I was on TV, I don’t spout for the SEC unless I believe in it, I’m not going to tell you something just to say it. I think Mississippi State won a game last night, played a team that I hope is hanging tough, but I think we’re pretty hot right now. That’s the problem oh, forget it, I’m just glad we won. Thank you very much. Let’s go, women.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.
Mississippi State Quotes
THE MODERATOR: Now joined by Mississippi State, Coach Sharon Fanning, Alexis Rack, who had 14 points tonight and then Robin Porter who had 10 points, Coach?
COACH FANNING: I was pleased with our intensity, we sort of got in a hole. I feel like our intensity and our focus early on wasn’t where it needed to be. But I was proud of the way we competed.
I don’t know that we could hold that for a 40 minute period, but we were trying to make things happen. When you see another team I’ve said this all year long, if you see another team shooting layups, getting offensive boards or just good looks that are uncontested shots, which we saw and I don’t think our individual team defense is what it needs to be.
In the second half they shoot which I just really saw 61%, they shoot 51% from the field, that’s something we have taken a great deal of pride in the majority of this season, trying to keep people under 40%.
I don’t feel like we’re executing the way we have to execute in a half court game. LSU is an improved basketball team. They had some young kids, and initially they took some hits, but they’ve played well lately and they played with a lot of energy today, so I think you have to give credit to their team relative to coming out, ready to be.
Hopefully we learn from each and every game we’ve played this season. And, you know, we were fortunate enough to have beaten them two times during the regular season, and of course one was a tough loss at their place for them in terms of a last second shot. And I felt like some of our best basketball was played when we played at our place.
We have to understand as a team as a team we need maturity and focus, regardless of what time you go to bed, regardless of the scenario, you come ready to go.
And hopefully we learned from this and hopefully we have another opportunity in the NCAA tournament to reach our potential because we have new players going through some things for the first time, and I know that every game is a learning situation for us, so hopefully we will have that opportunity.
Q. Can you talk about Allison Hightower and how difficult she was to guard tonight?
COACH FANNING: Hightower can go. I don’t think I’ve seen in the women’s game, I haven’t seen a prettier shot. They just float in, float in and go left. I think she has tried to take a younger team that they have and really carry them.
There has been a lot of learning that’s taken place, and that’s taken patience and determination on her part and she is an excellent leader for them. She wants the ball to take it down the floor and in the half court game to be able to find the shot. She has helped them in many ways.
You know when you finish with 23 points and you have a positive assist turnover, offensive rebounds, you have played the amount of time she has, I think that speaks highly for her endurance, for her focus, for her toughness.
And it’s definitely made a difference in their basketball team, they are leadership. And, of course, her abilities.
Q. Can you guys talk about the start that you guys had tonight in terms of the past three or four games, the first half hasn’t been that strong as the second half. Has there been a constant in the last three or four games that has been a cause for the slow starts?
ALEXIS RACK: We I feel that we came up short. Guess we just we just didn’t find a way to get out of the hole.
ROBIN PORTER: We weren’t focused. We need to focus and have intensity, and our focus is just not there in the first half, we have to find it.
Q. (Away from mic.)
COACH FANNING: I felt like last night when we started the game, from a focus standpoint, we had the right energy. And as you look at how the team was practicing, I’ve said this all year long, we have some depth to this team and we have experience with this team.
But some of the experience that we talked about in the beginning of the year has been in and out due to injuries, or else not here at all because of injuries. Some of the key players so, therefore, even with that, the depth is a key to it.
There are several new players that are doing a lot of things for the first time. At least one, and I would say there is more, that didn’t know there would be four games this week until they were told, that’s just a learning process.
So when the lights go on in a different way, there is a learning curve there. We talked at the beginning of the season about toughness and focus and talked about playing together, and the little things, communication that needs to take place out there.
The thing that I do believe is that our team is getting better. I think other teams get better as well and this team is competitive this league is as competitive as it’s ever been, top to bottom.
So hopefully the lessons that are learned, we’ll continue to improve as well and get this next opportunity and then we’ll have that focus and better performance. We have a week now to get ready to continue to get better as a basketball team. And I’m really asking these returning players, two of these young ladies sitting right here, that we want to step up.
I think Robin played better today. She has not been playing as well, and I don’t know if that’s been being tighter or whatever, but I think she I had complimented her this last week relative to the warrior that she has been, and what she has given and either she’s got to relax to do it or I’m going to take her out of the starting lineup. She stepped up, was confident, looking for shots and making some things happen.
Alexis last night, I thought she was a real key, being tough and not hitting the points early, but in the second half the ability to defend as she did and make things happen and show focus, and that’s a sign of maturity and that’s what this team needs.
They need the leadership out there to be able to make decisions quick and read and react together. And hopefully we learn from this and we have a week to improve next week and you’ll see us in postseason play a better basketball team.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach, ladies.