BOULDER, Colo. — In the 1,000th game in Women’s NCAA Tournament basketball history, the sixth-seeded Lady Tigers used an 8-0 run over the last 2:24 to defeat No. 11 seed Santa Clara, 84-78, in first round of the NCAA Tournament in the Coors Entertainment Center late Friday night.
With the win, LSU (18-11) advances to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight season and will face third-seeded Colorado (22-9), which defeated Southern, 88-61, in the first game on Friday night. The game will be televised on ESPN2 at 10:06 p.m. CT. Santa Clara finishes its season with a 21-10 overall record.
“I want to first commend Santa Clara, they were every bit as good as we thought they would be,” said LSU head coach Sue Gunter. “This was a war from start to finish and I am very pleased to come away with a win. It was a great game and now I look forward to coming back and playing on Sunday.”
With LSU trailing 78-76 with 2:24 remaining, Temeka Johnson hit an 18-footer from the right side to tie the game. After both teams traded timeouts, Scholanda Dorrell hit a runner in the lane off a missed shot by Aiysha Smith to give LSU the lead for good with 36 seconds remaining.
The Lady Tigers forced Santa Clara into a turnover on the other end of the court and Johnson converted a pair of free throws to help secure the lead for LSU with 17 seconds remaining. After a final Bronco turnover, she hit a layup at the buzzer for the final score.
“I don’t know where these kids got the reserve energy from at the end,” said Gunter. “We told them to keep Santa Clara from scoring the three, not to let them get second chance points and not to foul. If we played good defense, we would get some breaks on the offensive end of the court and it turned out good for us.”
Doneeka Hodges led five Lady Tigers in double figures with a game-high 22 points. Smith finished with 17 points and 12 points, her ninth double-double of the season. Johnson added 16 points, Roneeka Hodges had 14 points on five-for-five shooting and Dorrell had 10.
Santa Clara was led by Julie Butler with 18 points and 10 rebounds. She was one of five Broncos in double-figures scoring.
After winning the opening tip, Roneeka Hodges came out and nailed a three-pointer from the left wing to give LSU the 3-0 lead and set the tone for the game as the teams combined to hit 13 three-pointers in the game.
Santa Clara then went on an 8-2 run to take a three-point lead, 8-5, including four points by Butler. LSU rallied to take a 14-10 lead on a three by Doneeka Hodges and three jumpers by Smith.
With the game tied at 17, LSU went on a 10-2 run to take its largest lead of the game, 27-19, with 6:44 remaining. Santa Clara would not go away and cut the lead to three, 29-26 with 4:39 remaining.
The Lady Tigers would use another run to go up by seven points, 33-26 with 2:14 remaining, but LSU could not put the Broncos away and took a five-point lead into halftime, 35-30.
Santa Clara came out on fire to start the second half, cutting the Lady Tiger lead to just one, 38-37, with 18:51 remaining. A Roneeka Hodges three-pointer gave LSU the four-point lead, but Kendra Rhea hit a layup to give Santa Clara their first lead of the half, 46-45, with 16:48 remaining.
Roneeka Hodges hit another three to give the Lady Tigers the lead back briefly, but the Broncos built the lead to as many as five points, 59-54, with 11:57 to go in the game.
Over the next three and a half minutes, Santa Clara kept a three to five point lead, until Dorrell hit a layup and LSU went 6-of-6 from the free throw line to take retake the lead, 66-63, with 7:32 remaining.
A three-pointer by Caroline Gruening evened the score and Santa Clara before took the lead, 71-68, on a three-pointer and a pair of free throws.
LSU went on a 6-0 run over the next 1:30 to take a five-point lead, but the Broncos countered with a 5-0 run to tie the scored at 78 before the Lady Tigers closed out the game with a 6-0 run to earn the win.
In a meeting earlier this season, LSU lost to Colorado, 86-65, as part of the Triple Crown Classic in Lubbock, Texas, on Dec. 29. The loss was the worst of the season for the Lady Tigers. The overall series is now tied at one game apiece. LSU defeated Colorado in 1989 in Columbus, Ohio.