CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — LSU’s top-seeded Lady Tigers basketball team and 13th-seeded Liberty will play for the right to advance to the Elite Eight on Saturday at 11 a.m. CST in the NCAA Tournament Chattanooga Regional semifinal game in McKenzie Arena.
LSU (31-2) defeated Stetson and Arizona in Knoxville to advance to the program’s third straight Sweet 16 and ninth overall. Liberty (26-6) upset Penn State and DePaul in College Park, Md., in the opening rounds to get to the school’s first Sweet 16.
“We’re coming off a couple of games where we had solid defensive performances and hopefully that will give us some momentum coming in against a strong Liberty team,” LSU head coach Pokey Chatman said.
The Lady Tigers combined to hold its first two opponents in the tournament to just 25.0 percent shooting from the floor and 39.5 points per game. LSU also collected 22 steals in the two opening round games and 14 blocked shots.
Liberty held its first two opponents to 33.8 percent shooting, while the Flames connected on 50.4 percent from the floor, scoring 83.0 points per game.
Liberty defeated fourth-seeded Penn State 78-70 and got past fifth-seeded DePaul 88-79.
“I really like this Liberty team. They remind me of us, in that they are not going to beat themselves,” Chatman added. “To the rest of the world they might be a Cinderella team, but the way they have run through this tournament is not a surprise to us.”
Seimone Augustus leads LSU into the Sweet 16. The 6-1 junior is averaging 19.9 points overall and 16.0 points in the two tournament games. Temeka Johnson is the Lady Tigers’ second leading scorer in the tournament, averaging 14.5 points and 8.0 assists, while Scholanda Hoston is scoring 10.0 points and Sylvia Fowles is posting 9.0 points and 9.0 rebounds per tournament outing.
Katie Feenstra, a 6-8 senior center, leads Liberty. She is averaging 18.1 points and 10.3 rebounds for the season and is posting 25.5 points and 12.0 rebounds per game in the tournament.
This will be just the second meeting between the two schools. LSU won the meeting, 77-54, in the opening round of the 2000 NCAA Tournament in Baton Rouge.
The winner of the game will face the winner of the other regional semifinal between second-seeded Duke and sixth-seeded Georgia on Monday night (Time not yet determined).
PROBABLE STARTERS
| lsu (31-2) | ||||||
| POS. | NO. | name | ht. | year | ppg | rpg |
| G | 2 | Temeka Johnson | 5-3 | Sr. | 10.3 | 7.6* |
| G | 32 | Scholanda Hoston | 5-10 | Jr. | 8.8 | 2.5 |
| F | 33 | Seimone Augustus | 6-1 | Jr. | 19.9 | 4.6 |
| F | 34 | Wendlyn Jones | 6-1 | Jr. | 5.0 | 5.1 |
| C | 52 | Tillie Willis | 6-3 | Sr. | 3.1 | 3.7 |
| *- assists per game |