Thanks to the play of junior Seimone Augustus and freshman Sylvia Fowles, the No. 1 ranked LSU women’s basketball team managed to overcome a slow start on Sunday to sneak past the Auburn Tigers 57-52 in front of a crowd of 14,256.
Playing in front of the second-largest crowd in LSU women’s basketball history, LSU (19-1, 6-0 Southeastern Conference) used a late first half run and a number of key shots by Fowles to earn their sixth straight win.
Coach Pokey Chatman said she was pleased to see her team fight past Auburn.
“I like the fact that we struggled, but we came together,” Chatman said. “Sometimes that’s hard to do. To see them come together and get it done is just a testament to their character.”
After falling behind early 5-2, LSU and Auburn traded shots until LSU finally made a slight run heading into halftime.
With the score tied at 12 with just under 10 minutes left in the first half, a jumper by Augustus triggered a 15-5 run as the LSU Lady Tigers headed into the locker room up 27-17.
Augustus, who finished with 24 points, said the late run helped the team pick up the energy for the rest of the game.
“We needed some kind of momentum going into halftime,” Augustus said. “It was a big plus because we came out in the second half with a little more energy.”
In the second half, LSU’s lead never rose past 11 points as Auburn managed to stick close through the half and make a late run.
Down 53-44 with 1:05 left, Auburn senior Natasha Brackett nailed a 3-pointer, which was followed by an offensive rebound and put-back by Auburn’s Alexis Ogubie to cut the lead to 53-49.
But two free throws by Augustus with seven seconds remaining closed the door on Auburn and allowed LSU to walk away with the victory.
Auburn’s Marita Payne, who finished with eight blocks, said Auburn played well enough to win.
“Anytime you play the No. 1 team in the country, you’ll have a lot of energy,” Payne said. “To play as well as we did is a credit to us. I really think we could have come out with a win.”
Payne added that Fowles proved to be too much of a force down low.
“She’s a horse,” Payne said. “I was trying to box her out, but she’s one strong freshman.”
Fowles finished with a double-double, scoring 13 points while adding 14 rebounds and 4 blocks.
According to Brackett, the crowd also played a role in LSU’s win.
“A lot of times, we couldn’t even hear what was going on,” Brackett said. “Some of our freshmen got confused and LSU got some easy baskets on us.”
Brackett led Auburn with 24 points in their loss.