March 18, 2012
BATON ROUGE, La. - - The 12th-seeded San Diego State women's basketball team led by seven points four times in the second half, but could not overcome a near seven-minute scoring drought, as host and fifth-seeded LSU rallied to claim a 64-56 victory Sunday at the Maravich Center. With the loss, the Aztecs ended their campaign at 25-7 overall, while the Lady Tigers improved to 23-10 and move on to the NCAA second round to face Penn State on Tuesday.
SDSU was led by Courtney Clements' (Long Beach, Calif.) 17 points, including 14 in the first half, and Chelsea Hopkins' (Las Vegas, Nev.) 16 points and seven assists. In the final game of her collegiate career, senior Kalena Tutt (Long Beach, Calif.) contributed six points, six rebounds and three steals. Junior Kiyana Stamps (Moreno Valley, Calif.) recorded seven points and freshman Khristina Hunter (Fairfield, Calif.) had six points and four boards in her NCAA debut.
The Aztecs fell behind by as many as eight points at the 11:29 mark in the first half, but got back-to-back triples to get to within just a pair at 17-15. SDSU took its first lead of the night with 5:30 until the break as Clements scored seven consecutive points and freshman Chairese Culberson (Oakland, Calif.) nailed a long jumper to comprise a 9-0 run and a five-point advantage. LSU answered back with triples from Krystal Forthan and Jeanne Kenney over the final 2:25 to knot the contest at 27 heading into the locker room.
SDSU broke the stalemate with two Hunter free throws to open the second half and after LSU tied the game at 29, the visitors reeled off seven in a row to lead 36-29. The Aztecs also were up by seven three more occasions with the last one coming at the 12:35 mark at 43-36.
After being up by six at the half-way mark, San Diego State went scoreless over the next 6:47 as LSU netted 12 unanswered points to swing the game to the home side at 53-47. The Aztecs got it to within four points with just over a minute remaining, but the Lady Tigers made six consecutive free throws to claim the 64-56 win.
The Aztecs committed just nine turnovers, including only two in the first half, but made only seven of their 20 free throw attempts. The Lady Tigers, meanwhile, went to the stripe 35 times, converting 26 of them, while also owning a +11 margin on the boards.
LSU was led by LaSondra Barrett's 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Courtney Jones added 13.