Commodores lose nail-biter at LSU

Feb. 23, 2012

Box Score

BATON ROUGE, La. – The No. 24 Vanderbilt women’s basketball team fell at LSU, 69-66, on Thursday, February 23, at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The Commodores fell to 20-8, 8-7 in SEC play, while the Lady Tigers improved to 20-8, 10-6 in league action.

In a tight game that included five ties and four lead changes, neither team was able to pull away and it was LSU who was able to hold on in the end.

Vanderbilt was led by 17 points from Christina Foggie, while Jasmine Lister added 14 and Elan Brown contributed 12. It was one of the more balanced games Vanderbilt has had during SEC play. Kady Schrann added nine, while Tiffany Clarke and Stephanie Holzer each contributed six points.

LSU was led by 20 points and 12 rebounds from LaSondra Barrett. Barrett scored 12 of her 20 from the foul line, where she shot 12-15. Courtney Jones added 13 points and seven rebounds while Adrienne Webb scored 12.

Fouls and free throws were the story of the game, as LSU took advantage of 33 trips to the charity stripe by making 26 foul shots. In addition to the scoring from the line, a majority of the fouls were on Vanderbilt post players Stephanie Holzer and Tiffany Clarke. Holzer fouled out of the contest while Clarke picked up three in the first half alone.

Another struggle for Vanderbilt was rebounding. Holzer was the top rebounder with just four and as a team the Commodores only had 21 rebounds, compared to 41 rebounds by LSU. The Lady Tigers earned 15 points of 16 offensive rebounds.

The Commodores trailed 34-29 at the half, shooting just 36% (9-25) from the field. Foul trouble was a factor, as Clarke, Holzer and Brown all had at least two fouls in the opening period. The Lady Tigers shot 16 free throws in the opening half, making 14 for 87.5%. LSU entered the game shooting 68.9% from the foul line.

Vanderbilt currently sits in a tie for seventh place with Florida in the SEC Standings. They can still finish in a tie for sixth place, as South Carolina is one game ahead of the Commodores with one game to go, however the Gamecocks would own the tie breaker meaning Vanderbilt can be no better than the seven seed in the SEC Tournament. Vanderbilt owns the tiebreaker with Florida by virtue of a 75-69 overtime win over the Gators.

The Commodores conclude the regular season on Sunday, February 26, when they host Alabama at Memorial Gym. Tipoff is set for 3:00 p.m. and the game can be seen on CSS. It is senior day and the team will honor senior Jordan Coleman and its four senior managers following the contest.