Duke defense shuts down Augustus as Devils rout LSU

BOSTON – Duke’s defense ganged up on the smoothest scorer in women’s college basketball, shutting down Seimone Augustus and blowing LSU away Sunday night to set up an all-ACC matchup for the NCAA title.

Mistie Williams had 14 points and nine rebounds to lead Duke to a 64-45 victory over the Lady Tigers in the tournament semifinal. Augustus, a two-time Associated Press player of the year, was scoreless in the first half, picking up her team-high 14 points long after it was no longer in doubt.

“It was a team effort defensively,” Duke coach Gail Goestenkors said. “And it really takes a team to defend Seimone Augustus.”

The Blue Devils (31-3) used an 11-1 run midway through the second half to open a 48-32 lead and advance to the championship game against Maryland, which beat North Carolina 81-70 earlier. Duke went 2-1 against the Terrapins during the season, losing in the semifinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

LSU (31-4) was just the seventh school to place its men’s and women’s teams in the Final Four in the same season. But, like the Lady Tigers, the men were blown out in the national semifinals, losing 59-45 to UCLA on Saturday.

One night after playground playmate Glen “Big Baby” Davis shot 29 percent in the LSU loss, Augustus went without a point or rebound in the first half. The nation’s leading scorer with 23 points per game did not score until 17:39 remained in the game.

“That’s not the motion offense that got us here,” Augustus said.

Duke’s men were also a disappointment, finishing the season atop the AP poll before losing to LSU in the round of 16. But at least they still have a chance to hang another banner from the rafters at Cameron Indoor Stadium – a first for the women, to go with the three won by Mike Krzyzewski’s teams.

The Blue Devils did it by holding Augustus to 6-for-18 shooting. Sylvia Fowles had 13 rebounds for LSU, which lost its previous three games this season by a total of five points.

“We worked so hard this season on our defense because we were so offensive minded in the beginning,” said Williams, whose other claim to fame is that she is the daughter of singer Chubby Checker. “As the season went on, we knew defense was going to help us win games toward the end.”

Monique Currie scored 13 points, Abby Waner had 11 and Lindsey Harding had 10 with six rebounds and five assists for Duke. Allison Bales blocked two shots in the first 22 seconds – she finished with six – and helped Duke open an 18-4 lead with 9:24 left in the first half.

Florence Williams made a jumper to awaken LSU, and three Tigers free throws later she made another. Williams then grabbed the rebound of Augustus’ miss and passed to Fowles for a layup that made it 18-13 with 4:42 left in the first.

Duke scored eight of the next 10 points, and the last five of the half, to make it 26-15.

In the second, LSU cut the deficit to 37-31 before the Blue Devils went on an 11-1 run to put the game away.