Feb. 10, 2011
BATON ROUGE, La. - Trailing by eight points with 1:06 left in the game, Auburn knocked down three 3-pointers in the final minute, but could not make up enough ground as the Tigers (13-11, 6-5 SEC) fell at LSU (17-9, 7-5 SEC), 55-52, Thursday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, La.
Sophomore point guard Morgan Toles took a last-second 3-pointer from the right side as time expired, but the potential game-tying shot missed to the right.
"We just didn't quite have enough to finish the game," said Auburn head coach Nell Fortner. "I thought we made a great run at them in the second half, but the defensive breakdowns when we had the six-point lead, that was tough on us."
Senior Alli Smalley led Auburn with 18 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore point guard Morgan Toles added seven points with four assists while Blanche Alverson pulled down a team-high nine rebounds.
The game featured five ties and 11 lead changes. Auburn led by six points with 12:14 left in the game, but it would be the Tigers' last lead as the Bayou Bengals answered with a 16-3 run to take a seven-point lead with 7:28 left. LSU led by as many as 10 points, at 45-35, before Auburn started cutting away at the lead.
Smalley and freshman Courtney Strain hit 3-pointers in the final minute to get the Tigers back into the game, but it was too late as LSU hit its free throws to preserve the win.
"That was not the shot we were looking for," said Fortner of the last-second attempt. "We were looking to get the ball to Alli Smalley or Blanche Alverson, but they had them covered up good pretty much all night. It was hard for them to get their shots, they had to work very hard."
LSU forced 22 Auburn turnovers on 13 steals, turning them into 22 points on the other end. The Lady Tigers also pulled down 14 offensive rebounds, scoring 17 second-chance points.
"LSU always plays tough defense," said Fortner. "They've always had good defense and they did the same tonight."
Katherine Graham led LSU with 18 points, 12 of which came at the free-throw line. LSU shot 22-of-30 from the charity stripe, compared to just 5-of-8 from Auburn.
Also scoring in double figures for LSU was Adrienne Webb with 10 points. Courtney Jones came off the bench for a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Auburn shot 38.2 percent from the field, 38.5 percent from 3-point range. LSU was held to 27.3 percent shooting and 23.1 from beyond the arc.
Auburn will return to action at 4 p.m., Sunday as the Tigers travel to Fayetteville, Ark., for a meeting with Arkansas (16-7, 4-7 SEC). The game will air live on ESPN2, marking Auburn's first appearance on one of the ESPN family of networks this season.
Auburn University will host the first and second rounds of the 2011 NCAA Women's Basketball Championship, March 20 and 22 at Auburn Arena. Tickets are available now at AUBTix.com.
Follow Auburn women's basketball on Twitter at twitter.com/AuburnWBB.