Lady Tigers’ road woes remain
The LSU Lady Tigers ended its regular season with its seventh loss in nine road games as they dropped an 82-73 decision to Alabama Sunday afternoon in Tuscaloosa.
Despite the loss, the Lady Tigers ended the season at 15-10 and an 8-6 SEC mark and received a first round-bye in the SEC Tournament.
The Tigers, thanks to Mississippi State’s win over Florida on Sunday, finish in a tie for fourth with the Bulldogs and will pick up the fourth seed and a first-round bye because of LSU’s win earlier last week over State.
Regardless of the loss Sunday, the Lady Tigers had their usual crop of stellar performances with Temeka Johnson leading the way with 19 points and seven assists.
Ayisha Smith added 18 points and 13 rebounds while Doneeka Hodges and Ke-Ke Tardy accounted for 11 and 10, points respectively.
Meanwhile, the Tide got 21 points on Katie Sipe’s seven of-nine three-point shooting, while Beth Vice’s five three pointers paced her 19 point effort. LaNisha Cartwell added 14 points and Shondra Johnson 10.
“I don’t think we were really ready to play,” said LSU head coach Sue Gunter. “I was disappointed in our overall attitude. It’s not that we didn’t know those two could hit threes. It’s not that that wasn’t part of our game plan. We just couldn’t get out and get on them and that was the ball game. We were lethargic on defense. We go in at halftime and we’re down one, but we’ve given up 40 points. We can’t beat people giving up forty in a half.”
The lack of preparation surprised Gunter despite the Lady Tigers knowing how important a game this was to Alabama.
With the win, Alabama improved to 7-7 in the SEC and 17 10 overall, enhancing its chances at an NCAA Tournament bid.
“I’ve got to give Alabama credit,” Gunter said. “It was a tremendously important game to them. But I don’t think our kids understand where we are and how badly we need to win. Now we’ve got to go into the SEC Tournament and beat teams that we’ve already played to get enough wins to qualify for the tournament.”
The Lady Tigers return to action in the SEC Tournament set to begin Thursday in Nashville, Tenn.
The Lady Tigers will play the opening game of Friday nights session at 6 p.m. LSU will play the winner of the Thursday night game between fifth seed Mississippi State and 12th seed Kentucky.
The game will be broadcast in Baton Rouge on the LSU Sports Network (107.3 FM) and on the Internet at www.LSUsports.net . The game will also be televised by Fox Sports South and SEC-TV.
Ronnie Richard