Jan. 20, 2013
BATON ROUGE, La. — The Vanderbilt women’s basketball team dropped a hard-fought 54-51 decision at LSU on Sunday. The Commodores fell to 13-5, 3-2 in SEC play, while the Lady Tigers improved to 12-7, 3-3 in league action.
Vanderbilt was led by a double-double from Tiffany Clarke. The senior forward scored 17 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. Junior guard Christina Foggie contributed 13 points and four assists, while Jasmine Lister had five points and six assists. Elan Brown just missed a double-double with eight points and nine rebounds.
LSU was led by 26 points and seven rebounds from Theresa Plaisance. The forward had 21 points in the second half to help LSU rally from a 10-point Vanderbilt lead with 16:10 to play. Adrienne Webb added 10 points, while Danielle Ballard contributed nine points and nine rebounds and Bianca Lutley recorded nine points and six rebounds.
“I don’t think we were tough enough,” Vanderbilt Head Coach Melanie Balcomb said. “They manhandled us in the second half. They got more physical, smacking the ball out of our hands and turning the ball over. If you don’t defend and rebound the whole game, you’re going to struggle.”
The Commodores struggled out of the gate, missing their first six field goals before Clarke finally connected 4:59 into the game. During that span, Vanderbilt also turned it over three times.
The offensive struggles were contagious, as over the first eight minutes of the game, LSU was 3-for-12 and VU was 2-for-13 from the field. The teams combined for 10 turnovers in that stretch, as well.
Vanderbilt then slowly turned things around, using a 15-2 run over 7:24 to take a 17-10 lead. Getting the ball in the post was huge during the stretch, as Clarke and Bowe had eight combined points on the run.
The Commodores carried that run into halftime, holding a 24-16 lead. Clarke was leading the way at the break with nine points and nine rebounds. Ballard had almost matched Clarke for the Lady Tigers, scoring nine points and grabbing eight boards.
Plaisance got the Lady Tigers back in it, scoring all but two points in a 13-3 run to tie the game at 34 with 11:45 to play. LSU continued the run to open up a 38-34 lead before Foggie drilled a three to make it a one-point game, 38-37, with just under 10 minutes to play.
Another Foggie three with 9:24 to play put the Commodores back on top, 40-38, forcing an LSU timeout. Plaisance responded to tie it back up at 40 with nine minutes left.
Neither team led by more than two points over the next seven minutes until Brown hit a jumper to put Vandy up 50-47 with 2:47 to play.
The Commodores then forced a shot clock violation on the defensive end before missing. LSU got it back and a Kady Schrann foul put Webb at the line for a one-and-one. The guard hit both to make it 50-49 with 1:45 to play.
Vanderbilt followed with a turnover before Plaisance connected from three to put the Lady Tigers up 52-50 with 1:07 remaining.
With 50 seconds left, Clarke was fouled in the post and went to the line, missing the first and making the second, trimming the LSU lead to one, 52-51. A foul by Schrann with 36 seconds left but Webb back at the line for a one-and-one. She missed the first, with Brown pulling down the board.
Schrann’s entry to Clarke in the post was stolen by LSU and a Clarke foul put Lutley at the line in a bonus situation with 7.5 seconds left. She hit both to put LSU up 54-51.
Foggie was able to get off a three-point attempt as time expired, but it was off the mark.
In the first half, Lister became the 36th player in Vanderbilt history, and third this season, to hit 1,000 career points when she connected from three with 9:53 to play in the first half. She now has 1,002 career points and is in 36th place all-time.
It marks just the second time in Vanderbilt history that more than two players joined the 1,000-point club in the same season. The last time was the 1992-93 year, which saw Heidi Gillingham, Julie Powell, Misty Lamb and Shelley Jarrard all hit the mark.
The Commodores are back in action on Thursday, January 24, when they host No. 9/9 Tennessee. The game is part of Vanderbilt University’s Employee Celebration and the Red Panda Acrobat will perform at halftime. Tipoff is set for 8:00 p.m. and the game can be seen on SportSouth.
