When the dust cleared and two of the top women’s basketball teams in the country finished playing their epic battle, No. 3 Tennessee topped No. 4 LSU, 68-65, in front of 14,501 people.
The crowd, the largest ever to witness a game in Louisiana, saw both teams battling back and forth, with LSU holding an eight-point lead in the second half, but the Lady Volunteers (24-3, 12-0 Southeastern Conference) cut the lead to two on a layup from Shyra Ely with 5:13 to go.
The teams continued to trade baskets during the next four minutes until UT guard Kara Lawson hit a jumper with 1:40 to go. LSU (23-2, 10-2 SEC) had a chance to tie the game with 14 seconds left, but Lawson forced a jump ball up with Doneeka Hodges and the possession arrow gave UT the ball and the win.
LSU head coach Sue Gunter said the game atmosphere was great, but Tennessee’s experience in big games, having played No. 1 Connecticut and No. 2 Duke earlier this year gave them an edge.
“Tennessee expected to win, and we hoped to win — therein lies the difference,” Gunter said. “That’s the next step that we will get to. The biggest difference in the game was that Tennessee made plays when they had to, and we didn’t.”
Gunter said the Lady Tigers had a chance to win the game, but could not handle the ball during the last two possessions. She said UT’s second chance points and rebounding margin hurt LSU.
“That’s just something we have to learn from; we had a soft pass on the wing instead of putting some zip on it, and they stepped in and took it,” Gunter said. “Hopefully, by the time we play again we’ll be better at it.”
The Lady Tigers shot 42 percent in the game but improved its shooting in the second half, where the team took an eight-point lead with 15:02 to play.     
“I really felt like when we went up by eight, we wanted to hold that and rest some of our players,” Gunter said. “We knew the run was coming; it always does.”
Tennessee head coach Pat Summitt said the game was full of intensity and competiveness. She said her team made some tremendous plays down the stretch to come away victorious but also gave credit to LSU.
“They had a lot of hustle plays,” Summitt said. “They did a great job of knocking down open shots. (Temeka) Johnson got by us a lot off the dribble.” Summitt sat Lawson for a six-minute stretch in the second half because Lawson was not playing with a lot of energy, Summitt said.
“I thought she (Lawson) played conservative, and I wanted her to get more involved,” Summitt said.
Lawson said she had a lack of energy and being on the bench helped her gain focus because her teammates encouraged her to play her game when she returned to the court. In the last minutes, Lawson said the team wanted to play man defense because it is the team’s “bread and butter.”
“We feel confident that if we need a stop at the end of the game that our man-to-man [defense] can get it done,” Lawson said.
Point guard Temeka Johnson led LSU with 18 points and eight assists and Aiysha Smith had 15 points. Doneeka Hodges also contributed 14 points. In a surprise move, forward DeTrina White came back from an injured foot to score four points off the bench. White had been out since January and was not expected to return until March.
“We’re the injury-healers,” Summitt said when asked if seeing White affected the gameplan. “I don’t know, I guess we just have that magical ability to heal people.”
Jackson and Ely led Tennessee, each scoring 12 points and grabbing nine rebounds. Lawson added 12 points. UT shot 47 percent from the field, including 55 percent in the second half.
LSU lead 32-30 at halftime after Hodges hit a 3-pointer with five seconds to go although the Lady Volunteers led for most of the half. The Lady Tigers did not commit a turnover in the half but were outscored 22-10 in the paint.
Though the loss drops LSU out of contention for a regular season SEC title, LSU forward Seimone Augustus, who scored 12 points for LSU, said the team will bounce back from the game and she looks to face them again in the SEC tournament.
“It was very competitive on both the offensive and defensive end,” she said. “It’s tough, but we’ll get them again in Little Rock.”