The Duke and LSU women’s basketball teams have a combined nine Final Four appearances in the last 10 years.But only one of them could advance into the Sweet 16 this year in Monday’s NCAA tournament second-round matchup in Durham, N.C.No. 7-seed LSU (21-10) took control in the first half, but ran out of gas with one field goal in the final four minutes and 22 turnovers overall to propel the No. 2-seed Blue Devils (29-5) to a 60-52 victory.LSU assistant coach Travis Mays said in his postgame radio interview giveaways will always come back to haunt a team, especially against a team like Duke.
“We gave a valiant effort, and our intensity was there,” Mays said. “The one thing we did that you can’t do against Duke in this hostile environment is give them an extra 20 possessions. Unfortunately it cost us tonight.”LSU senior guard Allison Hightower closed the book on her career as a Lady Tiger with 19 points and 1,508 total points in her career. She rattled off five field goals in the first half but limped to a 1-of-11 performance in the second half.Mays said he was upset the Lady Tigers could not advance farther and extend Hightower’s career in purple and gold.”I spent three years with her as a young coach in Baton Rouge, and she’s been exactly what any coach would want on and off the court,” Mays said. “I’m extremely disappointed for the loss, but I’m more disappointed for the kids and especially Hightower. I wanted this dance to go as long as it could possibly go.”The 22 turnovers tied a season high for LSU, which ranked No. 2 in the nation with an average of 12.5 turnovers per game in the regular season.There were 15 ties and seven lead changes during the game. LSU led by as many as seven points in the first half, in which it outshot Duke, 52 percent to 42 percent, en route to Duke’s worst defensive half of the season.”Our game plan was going really well in the first half, with the exception of giving them a couple of easy baskets,” Mays said. “We thought we had the momentum of the game even though it was tied 25-25 at halftime.”The second half was a virtual role reversal, as Duke shot 46 percent from the floor to LSU’s 33 percent. Duke junior guard Jasmine Thomas scored 15 points on the night, including a layup with 3:30 to play that put the Blue Devils ahead for good and clinched their 12th Sweet 16 berth in the last 13 seasons.”If we could have taken care of the ball better, we would have established ourselves in the second half,” Mays said. “Instead we had two turnovers in the first 40 seconds that fueled Duke and made Duke believe they could win this game.”LSU sophomore forwards LaSondra Barrett and Courtney Jones each played 31 minutes and scored in double figures with 12 and 11 points, respectively.Mays said although the Lady Tigers fell short in their quest for their first national championship and will lose Hightower next season, he said he likes what the future holds at LSU.”I hope the young players really appreciate who they’ve had as a mentor and example day in and day out,” Mays said. “I hope they have that taste in their mouth where if we work just a little bit harder, a game like this won’t slip away when we have the opportunity again.”—————Contact Rachel Whittaker at [email protected]