Former LSU women’s basketball legend Seimone Augustus choked back tears as her No. 33 jersey was retired Sunday night at the PMAC prior to No.18 LSU’s matchup with No. 3 Tennessee. Augustus, who was awarded with a key to the city, became the first woman in LSU history to have her jersey retired. Former Tiger Shaquille O’Neal, whose jersey is one of eight other retired numbers, and O’Neal’s Cleveland Cavaliers teammate LeBron James praised Augustus’ achievements in a video message. ‘Congratulations, and welcome to greatness,’ O’Neal said. A rowdy crowd of 4,971 was on hand to witness the ceremony but left unsatisfied as the Lady Tigers (14-4, 3-3) fell to the Lady Volunteers (17-2, 5-1), 55-43. LSU senior guard Allison Hightower said the team beat itself in the second half. ‘They got a few easy looks in the post,’ Hightower said. ‘We had a lot of breakdowns at key moments in the game.’ Tennessee’s zone defense contributed mightily to LSU’s low field goal percentage of 26.4 percent. ‘I thought our coverage out of the zone was really good,’ said Tennessee coach Pat Summitt. ‘We extended it. We were aggressive. We got after it.’ LSU coach Van Chancellor said the zone was impenetrable and made it difficult to move the ball. ‘That’s the first time I’ve ever seen Pat Summitt only play one possession of man,’ Chancellor said. ‘That was a heck of a zone defense they played today.’ The Lady Tigers were only down by two points after the first half, 24-22, despite LSU’s two leading scorers, Hightower and sophomore forward LaSondra Barrett, starting 2-of-10 and 1-of-5 from the field, respectively. ‘I thought in the first half we really struggled to get anything positive going,’ Summitt said. The crowd noise reached its peak in the second half when Hightower gave the Lady Tigers their first lead of the game, 33-32, with 11:55 left in the second half. ‘The crowd was great tonight,’ Hightower said. ‘They got us in the game and got us energetic.’ Barrett drilled a mid-range jumper, increasing LSU’s lead to three points, 35-32. Junior forward Jasmine Nelson’s strong physical presence put Tennessee sophomore center Kelley Cain in foul trouble, and things were looking up for the Lady Tigers. Cain finished with four fouls. Nelson’s 10 rebounds didn’t go unnoticed by Chancellor. ‘She was a big difference for us,’ Chancellor said. ‘I’m really proud of her.’ But the Lady Vols’ size and tenacious defense were too much for the Lady Tigers to handle down the stretch, and a three-point lead quickly became an insurmountable deficit for LSU. With the game tied at 37 with 9:30 left, Tennessee went on a 13-point run. The Lady Tigers remained stuck at 37 for almost seven minutes. ‘They were just so big,’ Chancellor said. ‘And when you got it inside, Cain was such a force.’ Nelson said the Lady Tigers can’t make excuses for the size of opponents and physicality of play. ‘It’s a big challenge, but we’re going to face big girls like that basically through the rest of conference play,’ she said. ‘That’s something we just have to deal with. We have to toughen up and play.’ Hightower and Barrett kept pulling the trigger but continued to struggle in the second half. Hightower finished 6-of-22, and Barrett finished 3-of-11 from the field. ‘Tennessee’s a good defensive team,’ Hightower said. ‘We just really struggled to knock down shots tonight.’ Junior guard Katherine Graham and sophomore forward Courtney Jones were the only two other Lady Tigers to make a field goal in the game. ‘Right now, I just don’t have anybody that can shoot the ball really well from outside,’ Chancellor said. Tennessee junior guard Sydney Smallbone started the game in place of the Lady Vols’ leading scorer, Angie Bjorklund, who has been struggling as of late. Bjorklund still contributed, going 4-of-7 and finishing with 10 points on the night. ‘It’s good to see her come back and get really focused and play well,’ Summitt said. ‘We rely on her a lot.’
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