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NEW ORLEANS — The Big Easy has left both a sweet and a sour taste in the mouth of LSU fans this season.
The sweet came in January with the Sugar Bowl victory, but the sour came Sunday night in a 52-50 loss to the Tennessee Lady Volunteers in the national semifinal game.
With three seconds remaining — and the score tied at 50-50 — senior point guard Temeka Johnson lost control of the ball in the backcourt. Tennessee forward Shyra Ely calmly picked up the turnover and passed it to forward LaToya Davis for an easy lay-up with 1.6 seconds remaining.
A last second heave by Johnson fell short, as well as the Lady Tigers hopes for advancing to the national title game.
“I just lost the ball, I guess,” Johnson, who set the all-time record in assists for an NCAA Tournament, said. “I feel as though — I don’t know. I owe Doneeka [Hodges] an apology for not getting her what we were trying to get, but other than that, I just lost the ball. Turnover on my part.”
Acting head coach Pokey Chatman said the turnover by Johnson contributed to the loss, but by no means was the reason for the defeat. Chatman said the 18 second chance points the Lady Vols were able to get off 16 offensive rebounds proved to be the Lady Tigers downfall.
“Bottom line, 18 second chance points,” Chatman said. “That’s the ballgame. LSU had 38 points in the paint, Tennessee 20. Eighteen of them on offensive rebounds. That’s where the game was lost.”
The Lady Vols defense held LSU’s “big three” — Doneeka Hodges, Seimone Augustus, and Johnson — in check for the majority of the night. The three combined for only 32 points on 13-of-38 shooting.
Augustus, who came in shooting 65.8 percent from the field in the NCAA Tournament, was held to 16 points on 7-of-21 shooting.
“Their defense was aggressive as usual,” Augustus said. “The shots weren’t falling. I had good looks. Shots just weren’t falling.”
Limiting Augustus’ touches was a main point of emphasis for the Lady Vols defense, Davis said.
“We just tried to do whatever it took to stop her and I think we did it as a committee,” Davis said. “And I think we did a very good job of doing that.”
LSU dominated both ends of the floor for the first 34 minutes of the game, leading for all except 31 seconds during that stretch. But with 4:58 remaining in the game the Lady Vols took the lead for good on a 3-point play by guard Tasha Butts. The play gave the Lady Vols a 43-42 lead.
Tennessee led by as much as four points in the final two minutes, but consecutive baskets by Johnson and Tillie Willis tied the game up with 27 seconds remaining.
The Lady Vols will now move on to the national championship game Tuesday night where they will play the Connecticut Huskies.