LSU crushes upstart Liberty
LSU had an easy time with Liberty, moving one step closer to its goal of winning the national championship.
All-American Seimone Augustus and Scholanda Hoston each scored 22 points to help the Lady Tigers end 13th-seeded Liberty’s amazing NCAA Tournament run with a 90-48 victory Saturday in the Chattanooga Regional semifinals in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Temeka Johnson added 12 points and 15 assists. Freshman Sylvia Fowles had 10 points for LSU (32-2), the overall No. 1 seed. The Lady Tigers will face Duke on Monday in the regional final.
The Lady Flames (26-7), making their ninth appearance in the tournament, become only the second 13 seed to reach the regional semifinals after notching their first two NCAA tourney wins.
But LSU was prepared for Liberty, getting tapes of the Lady Flames before their upsets over Penn State and DePaul. Thanks to a smothering defense that shut down dominant 6-foot-8 center Katie Feenstra, LSU jumped out to a quick 17-0 lead.
Liberty had five turnovers in the first 4 1/2 minutes and only two field-goal attempts. The Lady Flames missed both and didn’t score until Kristal Tharp’s two free throws with 13:09 left before halftime. They finished with 22 turnovers.
Diana Staugaitiene made Liberty’s first bucket, a 3-pointer at the 10:48 mark that made it 21-5. She finished with 10 points.
Feenstra was averaging 18.1 points and 10.3 rebounds, but finished with nine points and 12 rebounds.
The senior left the game with three minutes left to warm applause from the Liberty fans, including school co-founder, Rev. Jerry Falwell.
Duke 63, Georgia 57: If this is Monique Currie’s final season at Duke, she’s doing her best to keep it going.
The All-American junior made four free throws in the final 26 seconds to secure the Blue Devils’ victory over the Lady Bulldogs in the other Chattanooga Regional semifinal. Second-seeded Duke (31-4) meets top-seeded LSU in the final Monday.
Currie finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Mistie Williams added 14 points and 13 rebounds while Wanisha Smith and Alison Bales each had 10.
The No. 6 seed Lady Bulldogs (24-10) were trying to advance to the regional final for the 11th time by building on the momentum from their upset over third-seeded Texas in the second round. But the Blue Devils (31-4) had other plans.
Duke is in the final eight for the sixth time with hopes of getting to the Final Four for the first time since 2003.
Currie, who is a junior but will graduate this spring, hasn’t decided whether she will stay for her senior season. She has said how far the Blue Devils go in the tournament could determine her course.
As expected, the game was close most of the way.
Duke was ahead by five with 6:21 remaining, but Georgia cut it to two twice before finally tying it at 54 on Tasha Humphrey’s putback with 3:04 to go.
Jessica Foley and Williams scored around two missed free throws by the Lady Bulldogs to put Duke ahead for good.
Tempe Regional
Baylor 64, Minnesota 57: Sophia Young’s day was special hours before Baylor tipped off against Minnesota in the Tempe Regional semifinals.
Young followed an emotional reunion with her mother by almost single-handedly leading the Lady Bears (30-3) to the Elite Eight for the first time, scoring 26 points and grabbing seven rebounds in a victory over the Golden Gophers (26-8).
With Young’s mom, Annie, watching her daughter at the college level for the first time after traveling from St. Vincent, West Indies, Young penetrated with ease and dominated a highly touted matchup with Minnesota’s bruising frontcourt of Janel McCarville and Jamie Broback as Baylor won its 17th straight game.
Young saw her mother earlier in the day for just the second time since leaving home at 15 to be an exchange student in the United States.
Baylor will play North Carolina on Monday for a trip to the Final Four. The Tar Heels defeated Arizona State 79-72 late Saturday night.