WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The LSU women’s basketball team cut a 24-point deficit to the home-standing Purdue Boilermakers to one point in the final minute, but fell 73-70 in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Second Round on Sunday evening in West Lafayette, Ind.
The Lady Tigers completed the 2000-01 second at 20-11 overall, while Purdue (28-6) advanced to the Sweet 16 by way of the victory.
All-American Marie Ferdinand tied a career-high with 34 points to spearhead the Lady Tiger effort. However, missing more than 10 minutes of the contest with foul trouble cost LSU a chance a advancing.
Ferdinand was 10-of-17 from the field and 14-of-18 from the foul line, as she finished her LSU career with an unconscious performance. Her 34 points was an LSU postseason record.
“It’s a disappointment for seniors,” LSU head coach Sue Gunter said of the five departing players. “These seniors have been outstanding and I hated to see them close it out this way at this particular point in time. Purdue was outstanding in the first half. We just dug ourselves a 10-foot hole and we only had a nine-foot ladder to get out.”
DeTrina White was the only other Lady Tiger in double figures, as she poured in 13 points and grabbed an LSU NCAA Tournament high with 15 rebounds.
Katie Douglas led Purdue with 21 points, while Camille Cooper added 13 and Erika Valek scored 12.
LSU trailed by just seven, 71-64, with 2:04 remaining when a free throw was waved off for a lane violation by the shooter, Camille Cooper.
The Tigers cut the the lead to five on a put back by DeTrina White and then, after Douglas missed a three on the other end, to three on a pair of free throws by Ferdinand. Two more free throws by the All-American made it a one-point game with 32 seconds remaining.
The Lady Tigers waited until the shot clock ran out to foul Douglas with only 2.9 seconds remaining. Douglas hit both and LSU failed to get a shot off as time expired.
“We could sit here and talk about what we didn’t do in the last minute, or the last 18 seconds,” Gunter said. “Yeah, we should have fouled, but, you know, we knew who we wanted to foul, but we couldn’t quite understand that we had to foul somebody. But, there were so many other things that made a difference in the game. You can’t really get down to that and get too involved in it.”
In the first half, Ferdinand came out of the blocks quickly for the Lady Tigers, scoring eight of the first 12 points. Meanwhile, Purdue answered with a pair of three’s by Valek and Douglas to keep the game close before the first media time out at the 15:48 mark, 12-10.
However, Ferdinand picked up her second foul while diving for a loose ball with 14:06 left in the half and was forced to sit with LSU trailing 16-14. The questionable call changed the completion of the game.
When Ferdinand returned to the at the 9:28 mark, the Lady Tigers trailed by 15, the same margin they trailed at in the first half of the teams’ first meeting in December of 2000.
Purdue extended the lead to 24 as LSU went 8:20 without a basket. While Purdue hit 17-of-25 (68 percent) from the field, LSU was 8 of 24 for 33 percent.
“We couldn’t buy a basket,” Gunter said of the 23-0 Purdue run midway through the first half. “DeTrina was playing well for us, but we could never get KeKe in the flow. I don’t know how many shots we missed in that period of time that could have certinaly made a differnece.”
The Lady Tigers were able to cut the lead to 15, 46-31, on a White layup with 1:14 remaining in the half, but trailed 48-31 after two Douglas free throws.
In a 62-55 victory on Dec. 16, 2000, LSU trailed Purdue, 34-21 at halftime in Indianapolis.
LSU opened the second half by cutting the Purdue lead to 12 on a pull-up jumper by Angelia Crockett with 13:00 remaining in the game.
Ferdinand picked up her fourth foul of the game at the 12:47 mark and, again, exited. This time, the story was different as the team responded with a defensive stop and a layup by James between the Purdue trees in the lane.
The Lady Tigers cut the lead to 10, 60-50, at the 11:10 mark on a layup by Roneeka Hodges and then to eight, 61-53, on three-point play by Doneeka Hodges with 8:07 remaining.
A three-pointer by Douglas at the 4:51 mark was a knife in the Lady Tigers hearts, putting LSU down 11.
However, LSU continued to rally behind Ferdinand and cut the lead to six, 70-64, at the final media timeout with 3:25 remaining.