NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — With LSU trailing Vanderbilt, 67-66, in the second half of its SEC tournament semifinal, forward Seimone Augustus took over.
The SEC Freshman of the Year scored all 14 points in the Lady Tigers 14-2 run to help them pull away, 78-69, and advance to the tournament final against Tennessee.
LSU (26-3) will look to avenge the 68-65 loss to UT on Feb. 23 in Baton Rouge. The Lady Volunteers advanced to the final by beating Mississippi State, 76-75, on a last-second jumper from guard Kara Lawson.
LSU’s 26 wins ranks third in team history, behind the 1976-77 (29 wins) and 1977-78 (37 wins) seasons when the Lady Tigers were in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW).
Augustus, who was held scoreless in the first half, finished the game with 20 points, nine rebounds and converted on 8-of-8 free throws.
“She was clutch today,” said Vanderbilt center Chantelle Anderson. “We had to contain the other players so we didn’t get to run at her as much.”
LSU head coach Sue Gunter was not surprised about Augustus’ late outburst, and said as long as her or anyone takes a good shot, it does not matter if it falls.
“The shots were there, they were good shots and she knocked them down,” Gunter said. “It seemed to flow for her.”
Augustus said she did not feel pressure to score after being shutout in the first half and she said she was not going to force shots, just try to get the ball inside.
“My teammates kept me composed and I got into the post and it opened up some great offensive opportunities for me,” Augustus said.
LSU took a four-point lead on a Crystal White free throw, but the Lady Commodores stormed back with a 14-4 run to take their last lead of the game.
Vanderbilt (21-9) led the entire first half and were up by as many as nine points. The Lady Commodores relied on and six 3-pointers in the half to take a 39-35 lead at halftime.
Anderson and forward Jenni Benningfield led Vanderbilt?s inside game. Anderson finished with 24 points while Benningfield had 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Gunter said the plan against Anderson was not to double team.
“Nothing that we’ve done this year to Chantelle has worked,” Gunter said. “Tonight we decided to play her straight up and it worked.”
The Lady Tigers crawled back in the second half and grabbed their first lead of the game on a pair of Augustus free throws with 17:18 to play.
Vanderbilt head coach Melanie Balcomb said the team struggled on defense throughout the game. She said LSU was able to pressure the team in the second half, forcing 18 turnovers.
“It was not our best effort,” Balcomb said. “We were late defensively for most of the game.”
Aiysha Smith led LSU with 21 points and Temeka Johnson had 12 points.
LSU advanced to the title game for the second straight year and it will mark its fourth appearance there overall. The Lady Tigers lost to Vanderbilt, 63-48, in the 2002 championship game.
Johnson said she is looking forward to playing Tennesse again and said she is ready to play for the conference title with a full slate of players this year, after only competing with seven at this time last season.
“I think last year’s [Vanderbilt] team felt like they could continually rotate players in on us,” Johnson said. “This year we have 14 people, and 14 people that are talented.”