SEATTLE– What a difference a year makes.
A year after being bounced from the NCAA Tournament by Texas, the Lady Tigers returned the favor Saturday night in Seattle with a 71-55 victory over the No. 1 seeded Lady Longhorns in the Sweet 16.
A fourth-seeded Lady Tigers (26-7) were carried offensively by sophomore sensation Seimone Augustus, who poured in a career high 29 points on 14-of-19 shooting.
“My teammates did a good job of getting me open,” Augustus said. “Once I got the ball, I just read the defense, made the correct cut and went to the basket aggressively when I had a good shot.”
Senior guard Temeka Johnson was a primary provider for Augustus on the night. Johnson had 13 assists, which was two shy of a career high, as well as 12 points and five rebounds.
“I did what I had to do to help my team win,” Johnson said. “I’m glad that I was able to hit the open man and push the ball up the court tonight, get the assist and score whenever I needed to.”
As good as Augustus and Johnson played, the real key for the Lady Tigers was the interior play of their post-players. Sophomore center Treynell Clavelle led the charge for the Lady Tigers’ interior with a career high 11 points.
The Lady Tigers dominated the inside with 36 points in the paint and 39 rebounds. LSU acting head coach Pokey Chatman said the interior stats do not just reflect upon how well the post-players played.
“It is not anything new for our kids,” Chatman said. “They understand points in the paint don’t have to come from a post-player. They could come off back screens for Seimone or a back door cut. That is what these kids understand.”
The Lady Tigers found themselves sleeping in Seattle during the first four minutes of the game as the Lady Longhorns were able to jump out to a 7-2 lead. A layup by Texas forward Heather Schreiber with 14 minutes remaining in the first half put the Lady Longhorns up 15-8.
But the next 14 minutes would spell the beginning of the end for the Lady Longhorns’ season. LSU went on a 29-9 run to close out the half and take a 37-24 lead into the break.
After the half, the Lady Tigers continued the shooting assault. A 12-2 run midway through the second half propelled the Lady Tigers to the 71-55 victory and their second consecutive trip to the Elite 8. LSU finished the game shooting 46.2 percent from the field, while holding Texas to only 36.4 percent.
“I’m not really looking forward to trying to describe what happened tonight,” said Texas coach Jody Conradt. “It was very disappointing from our standpoint, but I thought LSU played really, really well. They came out with a fire that our team lacked. I thought they got us in a little hole early, and I kept thinking we’d respond, but nothing seemed to work for us.”
With the win, LSU is one game away from its first Final Four appearance, but Johnson — who is from New Orleans — is not looking forward to a possible return home just yet.
“We have to focus on this next game,” Johnson said. “That is where all our focus is at right now.”
That next game for the Lady Tigers will be tonight at 8 p.m. against Southeastern Conference rival Georgia in Seattle. The game will be televised on ESPN.
The third-seeded Lady Bulldogs defeated the second-seeded Purdue Boilermakers 66-64 on a baseline jumper from sophomore guard Alexis Kendrick with 5.6 seconds remaining in the game.
The Lady Tigers and Lady Bulldogs met once earlier this season, a 80-74 Georgia victory in Athens on Jan. 25.
In that game, Augustus and senior guard Doneeka Hodges combined for 46 points but were done in by a lack of support, as the three other starters — Johnson, Hanna Biernacka and Wendlyn Jones — combined for only 19 points.
Georgia has owned the series as of late, winning 10 of the last 13 games between the two schools.