BATON ROUGE — Third-ranked Tennessee mounted a 13-0 second-half run and LSU went the final nine minutes with only one field goal as the 18th-ranked Lady Tigers fell to the Lady Vols, 55-43, on Sunday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
LSU retired the jersey of former Lady Tiger legend Seimone Augustus prior to the game. Augustus’ No. 33 jersey will forever hang from the rafters of the Maravich Center as she became the first woman in LSU Athletics history to have her jersey retired.
The Lady Tigers (14-4, 3-3 Southeastern Conference) lost for the third time in four games while shooting only 26.4 percent from the floor. Tennessee (17-2, 5-1) rebounded from a 53-50 loss at Georgia on Thursday and moved into a first-place tie in the SEC standings with Ole Miss, who was a winner at Georgia on Sunday.
Senior guard Allison Hightower led a trio of double-figure scorers for LSU with 17 points. Sophomore forward LaSondra Barrett had 12 points and Katherine Graham added 10 points. Junior forward Jasmine Nelson came off the bench and grabbed a game and career-high 10 rebounds.
“I’m really proud of the way our kids played today,” LSU head coach Van Chancellor said. “We played awfully hard. We did about all we could. We just couldn’t make a shot. We turned the ball over too much. I guess I’ve been watching Tennessee play 19 years, 10 years in the WNBA and three years here. That’s the first time I’ve ever seen (head coach) Pat Summitt only play one possession of man. That was a heck of a zone defense they played today.”
Hightower tied the game at 37 apiece with a runner through the lane at the 9:35 mark of the second half, but Tennessee took control of the contest with its 13-0 spurt. Alyssia Brewer keyed the run with six points, and Shekinna Stricklen’s two free throws gave the Lady Vols a commanding 50-37 advantage with 3:55 remaining.
LSU missed nine shots during the run and could not solve Tennessee’s tough zone defense. Barrett’s free throws at the 2:47 mark would be the Lady Tigers’ first points since Hightower’s jumper at the midway point of the second half.
Hightower finally broke the dryspell on a layup with 15 seconds left but the game had been decided. Tennessee outscored LSU 18-6 in the final nine minutes to preserve a 55-43 victory.
The Lady Vols led by as many as four points early in the second half until the Lady Tigers took their first lead of the contest with 11:55 to go. Graham converted a putback layup and Hightower’s jumper put LSU in front, 33-32. Barrett’s left baseline shot gave the Lady Tigers their largest lead, 35-32 until Tennessee made its move.
Brewer finished with 14 points and seven boards to lead the Lady Vols, who shot 44.7 percent for the game. Kelley Cain chipped in 11 points and Angie Bjorklund added 10 points.
Tennessee held a 24-22 lead at halftime despite committing 14 first-half turnovers.
“We go in at halftime trailing by two points,” Chancellor said. “We come out in the second half, and Tennessee turns it over or misses shots, and we have about three possessions where we get zero (points). I felt like we needed to have a lead and a little bit of a cushion.”
LSU concludes its three-game homestand versus No. 25 Kentucky at 7 p.m. CST Thursday in the Maravich Center. The game will be televised live by Cox Sports Television (CST).
LSU HEAD COACH VAN CHANCELLOR
Opening statement…
“I’m really proud of the way our kids played today. We played awfully hard. We did about all we could. We just couldn’t make a shot. We turned the ball over too much. I guess I’ve been watching Tennessee play 19 years, 10 years in the WNBA and three years here. That would be 32 years. That’s the first time I’ve ever seen (head coach) Pat Summitt only play one possession of man. That was a heck of a zone defense they played today. They got (Shekinna) Stricklen out high and wide and Glory Johnson on the other side. You could hardly move the ball. They were just so big, and then, when you got it inside, (Kelley) Cain was just such a force inside. When you are shooting 26 percent, you’re 2-for-8 (from behind the three-point line) and 62 percent (at the foul line), it’s hard to beat a team as good as Tennessee.”
On if Tennessee’s zone defense looked different in person…
“No, that’s about like I thought it would be. I’m not making excuses. We have a really good three-point shooter, and we lost (Andrea) Kelly who had six points against them last year, and they went to a zone last year. Right now, I just don’t have anybody that can shoot the ball really well from outside. They were about what I thought they would be. I’ve seen them play on tape four or five times. We wanted to try to score it well enough, but you can’t turn it over that much against a zone and be very successful. One of the reasons we turned it over was because they were really active in it. Most zones are passive, but they were really active today.”
On if LSU saw much of Tennessee’s Alicia Manning on film…
“I thought they got pretty good minutes out of everybody they played. I thought they all accepted their role for them and did some good things.”
On the second half…
“Where I thought we got hurt in the game was the start of the second half. We go in at halftime trailing by two points. We come out in the second half, and Tennessee turns it over or misses shots, and we have about three possessions where we get zero (points). I felt like we needed to have a lead and a little bit of a cushion, and the stretch you were talking about, we didn’t do a very good job. I bet you it’s been a long time since Tennessee has only gotten nine offensive rebounds, but where they got them really hurt us. It was down late in the game. I think they had about five points on offensive rebounds that really hurt us late in the game. When you have (Kelley) Cain, (Alyssia) Brewer, (Shekinna) Stricklen and (Glory) Johnson, that’s a pretty good team.”
LSU PLAYER QUOTES
Guard Allison Hightower
On Tennessee’s second half run…
“I think during those plays, we had a lot of breakdowns. We fouled the shooter and put them on the line. They got a few easy looks in the post. I guess we had a lot of breakdowns at key moments in the game – blocking out and rebounding, and really executing.”
“We can’t hold our heads down at this loss. We still have a whole lot of games to play. The SEC is just so up-and-down right now. Everybody’s still in it. We’ve just got to come to practice every single day and have that mentality that we’re going to get better each and every day and we’re not going to let up. We just have to continue to improve, continue to get better, and continue to push each other in practice and continue to fight. We can’t hold our heads down and we’ve just got to move forward.”
On the crowd…
“The crowd was great tonight. They got us in the game and got us energetic. When they’re up we’re up, so I thought the crowd was great tonight. It’s just hard that we just let them down.”
Forward Jasmine Nelson
On the physical nature of the game today…
“It was very physical. Those girls being as big as they are, it’s very physical guarding them. It took a lot out of me.”
On the challenges of competing against such a physical team…
“It’s a big challenge, but we’re going to face big girls like that basically through the rest of conference play. That’s something we just have to deal with. We have to toughen up and play.”
On if she was prepared to play as much as she did…
“I was ready. The coaches told me to be ready when my opportunity came, and I was ready.”
TENNESSEE POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Pat Summitt
Opening Statement
“I thought in the first half we really struggled to get anything positive going. Obviously, in the second half I thought our team came out of the locker room very focused. Our post game stepped up, so we had good balance from the outside-inside. Looking at our stats, Glory Johnson came in and did a good job after the break. She wasn’t playing well early. Kelley (Cain) wasn’t playing that well and got in foul trouble. We have grown accustomed to that. When she was on the floor she was 4-for-4 from field goals and 3-for-3 from the free throw line. That’s big for her, and I just wish she would have been able to stay in the game a little longer and get some touches. We managed to play through it without her, and that’s always an indication that we got a little bit better balance. When Glory did come back in I was really pleased with her as well. I thought Alicia Manning’s intensity, defense and toughness on the boards – she really made a difference when she was on the court. Angie (Bjorklund), it’s good to see her come back and get really focused and play well. We rely on her a lot, and certainly when she is on the floor, offensively, we are looking for her constantly. (Shekinna) Stricklen did not shoot the ball well, but she did a lot of other good things. I thought she defended and got on the boards as well.”
On her thoughts on Seimone Augustus and her jersey retirement at LSU …
“Yes, I have a lot (of thoughts), and some are not real fond memories. We recruited Seimone, and she came up to campus and visited with her parents. I knew it was a long shot, but I was willing to try. I watched her play and played against her many times and saw her elevate her game. She is obviously the all-time great to play here, in my opinion. I was proud to see that recognition. It is so well deserved.”
On the play of her team defensively once LSU took the lead in the second half …
“I thought our coverage out of the zone was really good. We extended it. We were aggressive. We got after it. Obviously, we wanted to make sure that we were not just giving them good open looks or a lot of chances to get in the paint. That was as well as I think we played out of the zone all year, those last nine minutes.”
On how the team was able to pull away …
“I think we changed tempo. In the first half we were probably just a little out of sync and not nearly as effective, but our tempo was better and that was probably the biggest thing.”