BOSTON — LSU senior guard Seimone Augustus was again named an All-American and again named National Player of the Year this season.
She also left the Final Four again without a berth in the national championship game in her final game as an LSU player.
Augustus scored just 14 points as LSU fell to Duke, 64-45 in the NCAA Tournament semifinal game Sunday at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston.
The Lady Tigers chose their most important game of the season to display their worst offensive output of the season.
LSU shot 29 percent and scored 45 points, both season lows, and made 18 field goals compared to 13 turnovers.
“We didn’t do the normal things when we saw the same defense that we’ve been seeing [for] three-and-a-half, four years,” LSU coach Pokey Chatman said.
The Lady Tigers looked poised to make the game competitive with 12:02 left to play in the game after a 10-3 run capped by a RaShonta LeBlanc jumper from the left baseline cut the Duke lead to six points.
But LSU would not get any closer.
Duke answered back with an 13-2 run over the next four minutes to grab an 18-point lead with 7:54 left in the game and never looked back.
The Duke defense held Augustus to 14 points – her lowest output since Jan. 1 when LSU won by 64 points.
“If you know anything about basketball, you could see the difference when we actually set screens, make the right cuts and move – doing the things we need to do,” Augustus said. “Tonight that didn’t happen. We didn’t make them guard us.”
Forward Mistie Williams led the Lady Blue Devils with 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting and said she could not have imagined a better defensive effort.
“We knew to be successful we had to shut Seimone and Sylvia down,” Williams said. “I’m just proud of our team, of our whole defensive effort – there was not one let down on the team.”
In the first half, LSU set season records for offensive futility and used defense to stay in the game.
Augustus did not score in the first 20 minutes and took just two shots.
Accordingly, the Lady Tigers shot 24 percent in the first half and scored 15 points, both season lows.
“The defense on Seimone was good, but the defense off of Seimone was probably better,” said Duke coach Gail Goestenkors.
Duke ended the half on an 8-2 run to take an 11-point halftime lead.
 
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