NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A’dia Mathies converted a three-point play with 38.8 seconds left and a potential game-tying jumper by LSU’s Katherine Graham misfired as 16th-ranked Kentucky survived a rally from the LSU women’s basketball team in the 2011 Southeastern Conference Tournament quarterfinals by a score of 60-58 on Friday afternoon in Bridgestone Arena.
The Wildcats (23-7) advanced to the semifinals and will take on either Vanderbilt or Mississippi State on Saturday. The Lady Tigers (19-13) now seek a 13th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. The bracket will be unveiled on ESPN on Monday, March 14 at 6 p.m. CT.
LSU (19-13) has made a case for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid, boasting a top-50 RPI a top-30 strength of schedule and key victories over No. 9 UCLA and Georgia. The win over the Bruins was on the road in Pauley Pavilion and UCLA has only lost twice since – both to No. 2 Stanford. LSU also has not lost to any opponents with RPIs of 90 or lower.
Counting its dominant victory over Alabama in the SEC first round, the Lady Tigers have won nine SEC games and statistically own the nation’s third-best scoring defense among BCS schools. The Lady Tigers posted an 8-8 record during the SEC regular season, which earned them a share of fifth place. LSU held 17 of its 18 SEC opponents below their scoring average, including the 60 scored by Kentucky on Friday.
“I’m not on the NCAA committee,” said LSU head coach Van Chancellor. “But if a UCLA win on the road, now won nine SEC games, have played Tennessee twice and Connecticut. If we’re not an NCAA team, I don’t know what it takes to be one.”
“There’s absolutely no question they’re an NCAA tournament team in my mind,” said Kentucky head coach Matthew Mitchell. “They are very, very difficult to score against. In a tournament setting, when you must win the next game, I think they’re one of the toughest teams to play against because they make it so hard to score.”
LaSondra Barrett delivered her fifth double-double of the season with 19 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Adrienne Webb added 16 points and was 2-of-5 from three-point land.
Kentucky’s Victoria Dunlap, last year’s SEC Player of the Year, scored 13 of her game-high 21 points in a dominant second half. The Wildcats shot only 36.8 percent (21-of-57) to LSU’s 50.0 percent (25-of-50).
“We played awfully hard today,” said Chancellor. “We played back-to-back (games) and played some of our players over 35 minutes. We played with a lot of heart and a lot of character. We just came up a bit short today. In the first half, we had an opportunity to open up a nine or 10 or 11-point lead and we couldn’t. That was a factor in the game when we couldn’t make that happen.”
LSU rallied from deficits of eight and seven points in the second half and had a shot to win it. Trailing 56-51 with 3:07 left in the game, the Lady Tigers scored five straight when Barrett put in a layup and Webb knocked down a clutch three from the right wing.
The Lady Tigers then took the lead when Graham converted a layup and drew a foul to culminate a 7-0 run with 1:29 left in the game. LSU led 58-56.
Kentucky turned the ball over on its end, but the Lady Tigers gave it right back to the Wildcats when Webb stepped out of bounds thanks to Kentucky’s constant full court pressure. Mathies then tied it on a drive through the lane and a made free throw after Barrett fouled her with 38 seconds left.
Barrett missed a three on the other end and Dunlap made only one of two free throws to give LSU one last chance, trailing 60-58 with 13 seconds left. Graham’s shot from the free throw line was no good as time expired.
Free throws proved to be costly for LSU, who shot only 6-of-15 from the stripe. Kentucky was 15-of-19 from the line. The Wildcats also forced the Lady Tigers to commit 17 turnovers.
LSU claimed a 27-23 halftime lead and the Lady Tigers had numerous chances to extend the advantage. LSU missed seven free throws in the first half and could not take advantage of Kentucky’s foul trouble. The Wildcats committed their seventh team foul with 13:35 left in the first stanza.
The loss was the third straight to Kentucky and the second this season by two points. LSU dropped a heart-breaker in Lexington during the regular season by a score of 49-47 on a game-winning layup with 1.1 seconds left.