72 holes with the pros: Fakier Open starts today
April 3, 201310 things to count on in the 2013 MLB season
April 3, 2013
The LSU women’s basketball team’s goal to return to the Final Four will have to wait at least one more year.
The No. 6-seed Lady Tigers were ousted from the NCAA Tournament Saturday night in a 73-63 Sweet 16 loss to No. 2-seed California.
The loss ended LSU’s season with a 22-12 record.
But even in defeat, LSU women’s basketball coach Nikki Caldwell said she is happy for the late-season run her team made – a spurt that pushed the Lady Tigers off the NCAA Tournament bubble and into the Sweet 16.
“I’m extremely proud of this team,” Caldwell said. “We have battled and we have hit adversity and we have been challenged. And when it looked like there was a chance for us to not even have our names called on Selection Monday, these young ladies came together … and they put LSU back on the map as a dominant program.”
For the first 28 minutes of Saturday’s game, it looked like LSU’s NCAA Tournament magic would continue.
Playing with just eight players (the same way they’ve played throughout the back-half of the season), the Lady Tigers headed to halftime tied with the Lady Bears at 26.
That stalemate dragged into the middle part of the second half with the teams deadlocked at 38 with 12:32 to play.
But instead of pulling ahead – like they’d done in eight of their previous nine games before, the short-handed Lady Tigers finally ran out of gas.
Cal used a 12-1 run to take control of the game.
With the lead in its grasp, the Lady Bears never relented, making free throws down the stretch to put the win on ice.
Vandebilt Catholic graduate and Lady Tigers’ junior was tied for the team-lead with 15 points in the defeat. She also pulled down 12 rebounds.
Plaisance said the loss stings because it means the end of seniors Adrienne Webb and Bianca Lutley’s collegiate careers.
The former Lady Terrier said LSU will miss Webb’s presence in the locker room.
“She was that leader that we all looked to,” Plaisance said. “We’re going to miss her a lot.”
Even with the two departures, the future appears bright in Baton Rouge.
Plaisance will be back and will lead a group of returnees that will include junior guard Jeanne Kenney, junior post Shanece McKinney and freshman guard Danielle Ballard.
In the loss against Cal, Ballard became the first LSU player – male or female – to record 100 steals in a single season.
In addition to the core returning, LSU also will be adding a top-tier recruiting class that is headlined by consensus National Top-20 prep player Raigyne Moncrief.
But even with the future looking promising, Caldwell said her only focus Saturday night was on this year’s team.
The Lady Tigers started the 2012-13 season just 13-10 and were in serious jeopardy of missing the NCAA Tournament.
They rallied late in the season and into the NCAA Tournament – establishing LSU as a national threat.
Caldwell said she will remember this season’s run for a long time.
I cannot take anything away from what these young ladies have done, nor their body of work to get here today,” Caldwell said.
LSU guard Bianca Lutley dives on the floor for a loose ball during the Lady Tigers’ Sweet 16 loss to California. Even in defeat, LSU coach Nikki Caldwell said the Lady Tigers have a bright future. A lot of returnees will anchor next year’s squad.
