SAME OLD STORY

Section: Talent

James Varney

SAME OLD STORY
Scarlet Knights' hot hands leave Lady Tigers out cold
Monday, April 02, 2007
By James Varney
CLEVELAND -- With an offensive performance that set marks for ineptitude, LSU's remarkable run to a fourth consecutive NCAA Women's Final Four came to an inglorious end in a 59-35 semifinal loss to Rutgers Sunday night.

The No. 3 seed Lady Tigers, who arrived at the Quicken Loans Arena on an offensive roll, shot 26.4 percent from the field, including 4-of-12 on 3-point attempts. They were even worse from the foul line, shooting 3-of-10.

With the victory, No. 4 seed Rutgers (27-8) advances to Tuesday's championship game, where it will face No. 1 seed Tennessee. The Lady Vols defeated No. 1 seed North Carolina 56-50 in the other national semifinal.

Long after the game, LSU players huddled quietly in the locker room, staring numbly at the wall or nibbling chicken wings with a vacant expression. In the hallway outside, assistant coach Christie Sides, her eyes red with tears, put her arm around forward Kristen Morris and tried to console the shattered forward.

"There was a lot of emotion in this locker room after the game, and every player cried," Lady Tigers acting head coach Bob Starkey said. "We talked about a couple of things, and the most important of them was that they didn't need to judge themselves by this one outing."

Starkey congratulated a Rutgers team that played astonishingly well offensively. In the first half, the Scarlet Knights shot 8-of-10 on 3-point attempts, just three shy of the record number of 3-pointers made in a Women's Final Four game. Rutgers cooled off considerably in the second half, falling one short of the record 11 3-pointers and finishing just under 40 percent from the field.

But, in truth, the game was over at halftime. LSU was sluggish throughout the opening 20 minutes, missing layups and jump shots and often bobbling routine passes. At the same time, though the Lady Tigers made an admirable attempt to play calm, the team was clearly rattled by the ability of Rutgers, which made roughly 35 percent of its 3-point attempts during the year, to nail basket after basket from long range.

Meanwhile, LSU junior center Sylvia Fowles, a member of several first-team All-American units and a finalist for some of the game's top trophies, was never a factor. Rutgers center Kia Vaughn beat Fowles physically throughout the night, repeatedly gaining superior position under the offensive and defensive glass.

But even when Vaughn went to the bench with more than 11 minutes remaining in the first half, Fowles failed to get on track. After earning a double-double in every Southeastern Conference game this season, Fowles finished with five points and seven rebounds, her lowest totals of the season.

"I just think I had a sluggish game from the get-go and couldn't get in rhythm, and I couldn't do anything to help my team out from the jump ball," she said.

In the locker room, as reporters pressed her for her reaction to LSU (30-8) playing its worst game of the season in such a critical situation, Fowles said it wasn't a time to sit around and gripe.

"You just have to give credit to Rutgers," she said. "They shot the ball very well with hands in their faces. They knocked them down, and you can't really do much about that."

Rutgers Coach C. Vivian Stringer, who has led three teams to the Final Four and now earns her second shot in the title game, was gracious in defeat. Indeed, she expressed astonishment at her team's execution.

"Wow, that's the best word to describe what's happening right here," she said.

Rutgers guard Essence Carson and forward Matee Ajavon, who combined to shoot 7-of-11 on 3-point attempts, also seemed surprised by such success.

"I think it's just that it was just there," Ajavon said when asked to describe her night. "We didn't plan to shoot 3s; the shots were just there, and they just went in."

Vaughn said she wasn't even aware of how she dominated Fowles or that she lifted her right off the court on more than one occasion. But Stringer echoed Starkey's position that one awful night can't unravel an amazing season.

"LSU is as good a team as I've seen all year," she said. "And Sylvia Fowles is the best center in America. Period."

But America's best center disappeared in Cleveland. Rutgers jumped to a 12-2 lead in the opening minutes, and it sustained the double-digit margin for most of the game. The evening seemed to be as magical for the Scarlet Knights as it was miserable for the Lady Tigers.

For example, not only did Vaughn have to go to the bench with her second foul in the first half, but Carson exited the game with a cramp with 13 minutes remaining. LSU, trailing 37-19, opened the second half with a 5-0 run and closed the gap to 39-27, holding the Scarlet Knights to less than a point a minute for the first 10 minutes of the half.

But LSU's own offensive shortcomings barred it from getting within striking distance. The game was encapsulated by a media timeout with 10:42 remaining. On its most recent possessions, Quianna Chaney, who shot 2-of-10 and finished with six points, had missed a layup, freshman forward Porsha Phillips had seen two outside shots clang off the back of the rim, and Fowles had fumbled an offensive rebound on her own miss and lost the ball out of bounds.

The Lady Tigers headed to the sideline whipped; Fowles with her head down for one of the few times this season.

"This was one of those nights where our basketball team was just terrible, and we really couldn't do much to correct it throughout the game," she said.

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James Varney can be reached at jvarney@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3405.