LSU looked almost unstoppable in its Southeastern Conference tournament opener Friday against Mississippi State, but the Lady Tigers couldn’t keep pace Saturday against No. 23 Vanderbilt.LSU (18-10, 10-4 SEC) led Vanderbilt at halftime, but a 21-7 run by the Commodores in the final 8:29 sealed the Lady Tigers’ fate and prevented them from reaching the championship game for the sixth-straight season as they fell, 61-47.LSU’s No. 1 scoring defense in the SEC held Vanderbilt to 23 points in the first half, but the Commodores killed the Lady Tigers’ defensive momentum in the final 20 minutes.”We let [Vanderbilt senior forward Christina] Wirth get a wide-open three, and in the last eight minutes they got one offensive rebound after another,” LSU coach Van Chancellor said in a postgame press conference.Although LSU finished with a higher field goal percentage than Vanderbilt — 38.3 percent to 37.5 percent — the Lady Tigers committed 13 turnovers in the second half, which the Commodores converted into 18 points.LSU junior guard Allison Hightower’s streak of games scoring in double figures ended at 15 on Saturday. She finished with six points on 3-of-9 shooting. SEC Co-Freshman of the Year forward LaSondra Barrett and fellow freshman forward Courtney Jones led LSU with 10 points each.”They did a really good job on defense,” Hightower said. “They were playing me box and one, face guarding me the whole time, and playing zone on the rest of the team.”Jones said Vanderbilt’s defense made it difficult to get the ball to Hightower.”Sometimes we did try to get her open, but it was hard,” Jones said. “Sometimes they would switch on the screens, and she wasn’t open. You’re going to have games like that, and we just needed to step up.”  LSU sophomore guard Latear Eason, who was taken to the hospital with a neck injury one night earlier against Mississippi State, started the game and recorded four points, two rebounds, two assists and three turnovers in 23 minutes.The Lady Tigers overcame Eason’s injury and Hightower’s slow start Friday night in the quarterfinals against Mississippi State on their way to a 63-58 win. Hightower made eight of her first nine shots in the second half and finished with a career-high 23 points. LSU now waits to find out its placement in the NCAA tournament a week from today on Selection Monday.——Contact Rachel Whittaker at [email protected]