The LSU women’s basketball team made an impressive run in the Southeastern Conference tournament but was undone Sunday night by a familiar nemesis in the championship game, as Tennessee pulled away late, 70-58, in Nashville, Tenn.
It was Tennessee’s third consecutive SEC Tournament title and the 16th in school history. LSU has lost to the Lady Vols the last three times it has made it to the SEC Tournament championship game.
“They’re very disappointed,” said LSU assistant coach Tony Perotti in a postgame radio interview. “They did put it all out there … they just came up a little bit short today.”
LSU played the final 14 minutes without All-SEC forward LaSondra Barrett, who was carted from the court and taken to Vanderbilt Medical Center after she took a knee to the head.
Barrett fell on the floor and was trying to get up when a Tennessee player’s knee hit her in the head as she ran past. Barrett lost consciousness on the play but regained it and waved to fans as she left on a stretcher.
Without Barrett, the LSU offense went cold. Tennessee led, 45-41, when Barrett was injured, and junior guard Adrienne Webb hit a 3-pointer shortly after the injury to cut the lead to one.
But the Lady Tigers would go more than five minutes without scoring after Webb’s shot, allowing the Lady Vols to push their lead to 10 points.
Webb connected on another 3-pointer to bring LSU back into the game. She led LSU with 16 points in the contest.
The Lady Tigers got back within four points with two minutes remaining in the game, but Tennessee went on a 10-2 run to close the game, including a 3-point dagger by senior guard Shekinna Stricklen with 56 seconds remaining.
Sophomore forward Theresa Plaisance scored 13 points off the bench for LSU.
“She made some great plays for us on the offensive end when we got a little stagnant,” Perotti said. “That’s what you need this time of year. You need everybody to contribute whatever they can.”
The Lady Tigers had a difficult road to the championship game, as they had to beat an Arkansas team that defeated them by 20 points earlier in the season and Kentucky, the tournament’s No. 1 seed.
It looked like LSU would be knocked out early against the Razorbacks on Friday. After jumping out to a quick 10-2 lead in the first five minutes of the game, the Lady Tigers lost their shooting touch.
Down 40-33 with less than two minutes remaining, LSU found it again.
Webb and sophomore guard Jeanne Kenney combined to score eight points in the final 1:42, including a game-winning 3-pointer by Webb with nine seconds remaining. Barrett blocked Arkansas’ last-second shot to seal the win.
Saturday’s Kentucky game wasn’t nearly as close, as the Lady Tigers led by 18 at one point.
LSU was deadly from the charity stripe against the Wildcats, connecting on 34-of-43 attempts, while Kentucky made just 6-of-13.
The Lady Tigers have a good chance of hosting a game in the NCAA Tournament when it begins March 18 in the PMAC. LSU will find out its seed when the tournament field is announced March 12 at 6 p.m.
 
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Contact Luke Johnson at [email protected]