SAN ANTONIO – The LSU women’s basketball team’s chances for a third-consecutive Final Four appearance came down to the final 11.9 seconds of the game Monday against Stanford.
Senior All-American Seimone Augustus took on the Stanford charge, literally, to seal a 62-59 victory Monday in San Antonio.
With the Lady Tigers leading by 1 point on the last possession of the game, Stanford guard Candice Wiggins drove into the lane and crashed into Augustus who drew the offensive foul.
Wiggins said she saw Augustus leave guard Krista Rappahahn open to help on defense and passed the ball to Rappahahn for the final shot of the game.
“I knew it was coming,” Wiggins said. “Just one second [earlier], the pass would have been there.”
Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said the call was a very disappointing way to end the game.
“It was just really surprising that that would be called then,” VanDerveer said. “It’s such a tough call to make either way.”
Augustus said taking the charge was a risk, and she saw the chance to draw the foul.
“I saw Candice coming down, and she was kind of out of control for a minute, and I just saw an opportunity to take a charge,” Augustus said.
Augustus was then fouled on the ensuing LSU in-bounds pass. She made both of her two free throws and effectively punched the Lady Tigers’ ticket to the Final Four in Boston.
The Lady Tigers needed a 7-2 run with 2:02 left to play to take a 5 point lead, but Stanford would not give up.
After Rappahahn hit one of two free throws with one minute remaining, forward Jillian Harmon intercepted a pass from guard Erica White and dashed to Stanford’s end of the goal, looking to cut LSU’s lead to 3 points.
But Augustus, who was voted regional MVP and led all scorers with 26 points, chased Harmon and fouled her on the way up, sending Harmon to the line.
Harmon missed both of her free throws, but Stanford controlled the offensive board and made LSU pay.
Center Brooke Smith hit a 3-pointer to pull Stanford to within 1 point, but that was the closest the Cardinal would get.      
Both teams exchanged field goals to begin the second half, but then LSU went on the second-half surge that has been the characteristic of the team this tournament.
The Lady Tigers went on an 11-2 run and prompted a Stanford timeout with 13:21 left to play in the game and the Cardinals trailing by 4 points.
But Stanford answered right back and outscored LSU by 6 points over the next three minutes to take a 45-43 advantage.
In the first half, the Lady Tigers offense struggled and shot just 37.9 percent from the field.
But the LSU defense helped keep the Lady Tigers within 5 points of Stanford at halftime.
“We kept talking to them the entire game and reminding them that if it was easy, a lot more teams would be here fighting for an opportunity to advance to the elite Final Four,” said LSU coach Pokey Chatman.
The Lady Tigers will play the winner of tonight’s Duke-Connecticut game on Sunday in Boston.
 
Contact Kyle Whitfield at [email protected]