In a game in which there were five lead changes in the final 81 seconds, the LSU Lady Tigers squeaked out a one-point victory over the No. 16 ranked Georgia Lady Bulldogs on Sunday.
Senior Seimone Augustus hit the game-winning shot to give the Lady Tigers (16-1, 4-0) a 65-64 victory and kept a streak of 19 consecutive regular season Southeastern Conference wins intact.
“I just took whatever shots they gave me,” said Augustus, who led all Lady Tiger scorers with 24 points. “We ran our offense efficiently and effectively and pulled out a tough win in the end.”
Tough was an understatement in describing this victory.
The Lady Tigers overcame a 31 point outburst by last season’s SEC freshman of the year Tasha Humphrey, along with the hostile crowd of 7,007 fans in Georgia’s Stegeman Coliseum.
After missing two consecutive free throws for only the third time in her career, Augustus made two in crunch time to give LSU the lead with 1:20 remaining.
Humphrey sliced through LSU’s defense to hit a shot that gave Georgia a 64-63 advantage but the Lady Tigers went to their All-American to put the game away.
Augustus, who finished the game 10-of-12 from the field on the afternoon, buried the jump shot with 13 seconds remaining to put LSU ahead for good.
After Sylvia Fowles missed a free throw with 4.5 seconds remaining, Georgia guard Janese Hardrick sprinted up court and threw up a desperation three-point attempt that bounced hard off the backboard as time expired.
Defense is what LSU coach Pokey Chatman said her team does best, but it was a change in her defensive strategy that she felt sparked LSU to victory.
“I think the game changed when we went to man defense,” Chatman said. “Georgia seemed to get into a rhythm in our zone so we went man-to-man for the last six minutes and it worked out.”
Augustus also believed the change in defensive scheme had something to do with the final outcome.
“We got out in their passing lanes and it caused some problems for them,” Augustus said. “But they did a good job of getting the ball in to [Humphrey] and she made some tough shots,”
The Lady Tigers built a 25-14 lead early in the game before Georgia’s 16-6 run at the end of the first half closed the lead to 31-30 at halftime.
Opening the second half with a career high fourth three-pointer, Humphrey gave the Bulldogs their first lead of the afternoon.
That lead was quickly swallowed by a 10-0 LSU run, which kept the game in reach for the Lady Tigers to pull it out at the end.
Fowles rebounded from a career-low four points against Alabama to come up big for LSU in the win with 11 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.
Fellow sophomore Erica White made the second start of her career against the Lady Bulldogs in place of injured Rashonte LeBlanc. White and Augustus played all 40 minutes of the game.
 
Contact Jeff Marion at jmarion@lsureveille,com