It seemed Senior Night would be bleak for the LSU women’s basketball team when it fell behind 22-5 in the first half Thursday night against South Carolina.
But the Lady Tigers (18-11, 8-7) clawed out of that 17-point hole and won their final home game of the season in overtime, 54-51, avenging their road loss to South Carolina (16-12, 8-7) on Jan. 6 when they gave up an 18-point lead.
Junior forward Taylor Turnbow made a fade-away jumper with three seconds left in regulation to tie the score at 44 and send it into overtime.
“I got the ball, and we didn’t have any timeouts, so I told myself, ‘OK, Taylor, you have to shoot it,'” Turnbow said. “I just shot the ball and didn’t really think about it.”
Turnbow also converted an 18-footer with 2:08 left, followed by a 3-pointer from junior forward Courtney Jones that extended the lead to five points. South Carolina had two chances to sink a game-tying 3-pointer as overtime ended, but LSU eked out the win.
LSU coach Van Chancellor said the victory was necessary in a big way with just one regular season game remaining at Tennessee and the Southeastern Conference tournament beginning Thursday.
“There is no sense in talking about playing hard or playing with great effort,” Chancellor said. “If we lose this game we have no chance. We’re on the absolute classic bubble.”
Senior guard Latear Eason led LSU with 15 points in 41 minutes, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range, and a career-high seven rebounds in her final game in the PMAC.
“Whether it was hustling or scoring, I wanted to do anything I could do to make sure I sent out these seniors with a win because we’ve been through a lot in these last four years,” Eason said.
The Tennessee game will be a tall task on the road in Knoxville, Tenn. The Lady Volunteers are 14-0 at home and are on an 18-game winning streak.
LSU opened SEC play against Tennessee, a 73-65 loss in the PMAC that snapped a six-game winning streak by LSU.
“We open the season with Tennessee, and we end with Tennessee. That’s a tough draw,” Chancellor said. “I thought when it happened it was going to be unfair to somebody, these double games we’re playing. I will say this — we have to win now.”
 
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