No. 2 Tennessee never trailed against LSU on Sunday in an 85-62 rout on Senior Day in Knoxville.
The Lady Vols answered every LSU run in front of 20,090 spectators and smothered the Lady Tigers defensively, holding LSU to 36 percent shooting on 24-of-66 field goals.
Despite the loss, No. 15 LSU (22-6, 10-4 Southeastern Conference) still earned the No. 2 seed for the SEC Tournament courtesy of Florida’s 71-60 victory against Auburn on Sunday.
Tennessee (25-2, 14-0 SEC) will be the No. 1 seed in the tournament.
The Lady Vols also will move up to No. 1 in the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Coaches polls when the polls are released today thanks to Villanova’s upset victory against No. 1 UCONN.
LSU’s weak interior play became glaringly obvious against Tennessee. Five LSU forwards combined for five points and 13 rebounds.
Treynelle Clavelle scored all five of the points off the bench, while starting forwards Wendlyn Jones and Hanna Biernacka combined to go 0-for-5 from the field with four rebounds.
Tennessee starting forward Shyra Ely dominated in the low post for the Lady Vols. She led all scorers with a season-high 25 points on 12-of-16 field goals and grabbed nine rebounds.
“Coupled with shooting 36 percent for the game [and] not having post players active, you don’t have a chance going against Tennessee,” said acting coach Pokey Chatman in the post-game radio interview.
Two other Tennessee players recorded double-digits against LSU. Shanna Zolman scored 12 points and added six rebounds, while LaToya Davis netted 13 points.
Tennessee outrebounded the Lady Tigers 44-28 and shot 56 percent from the field.
“Rebounding wins championships,” Chatman said. “They have established that and it is no surprise that they would attack the glass.”
The Lady Vols started the game with a 7-0 run and LSU would only get as close as four points the rest of the way.
LSU cut the lead to six points, 35-29, on the first field goal of the second half. But Tennessee used a series of runs to extend its lead and answered every LSU push in the second half.
Tennessee outscored LSU 50-35 in the second half.
Chatman said it was difficult watching LSU dig itself into a hole it could not escape.
“We knew what Tennessee was going to do defensively and we never responded to it,” Chatman said. “The difficult thing to understand is that we’ve always responded to it in the past.”
The Lady Vols contained LSU forward Seimone Augustus, who scored 12 points on 5-of-19 shooting. Coming into the game, Augustus averaged 21 points per SEC outing.
Seniors Temeka Johnson and Doneeka Hodges combined for 34 of LSU’s 62 points.
Johnson recorded her seventh double-double of the season with 16 points and 11 assists. She also grabbed five rebounds for the Lady Tigers.
Hodges led LSU in scoring with 18 points on 7-of-16 shooting.
Chatman said despite putting up points, the “big three” failed to convert when LSU needed it most.
“I specifically point to the big three — Temeka, Doneeka and Mone — and between them they missed six layups,” Chatman said. “That just can’t happen.”
Clavelle and Scholanda Hoston provided all of the scoring production from the bench. Hoston finished with 11 points.
The SEC Tournament begins in Nashville on Thursday. LSU earned a first-round bye and will play its first game on Friday at 2:30 p.m.
“We’ll go back to work on Monday and try to correct some things,” Chatman said.