Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Florida Atlantic Falls Short in NCAA Tourney
3/18/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 18, 2006
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Having the nation's top scorer sure makes starting the NCAA tournament much easier.
Seimone Augustus, looking to cap her fabulous career with the national title that has eluded the Tigers in their last two trips to the Final Four, nearly outscored tournament newcomer Florida Atlantic all by herself Saturday.
Augustus scored 22 points in 27 minutes, then cheered her teammates from the bench as top-seeded LSU routed No. 16 seed Florida Atlantic 72-48 in the opening round of the San Antonio Regional.
LSU will play No. 9 seed Washington, a 73-69 winner over Minnesota, in the second round Monday night.
The Tigers (28-3) started a little sluggishly and even trailed 14-13 before Augustus, the two-time Southeastern Conference and last year's national player of the year, took control. She scored 10 of the next 20 points as LSU finished off the first half with a 22-4 run and led 35-18 at halftime.
Augustus hit more shots by herself than Florida Atlantic (20-11) in the first half (eight to seven). When she reached 22 points in the second half, it matched the Owls' total at the time.
From then on, it was only a question of whether or not LSU would match or top its previous biggest margin of victory in the NCAA tournament. The Tigers had a 42-point victory over No. 13 seed Liberty in the regional semifinals last year and led by as much as 36 three different times.
But LSU coach Pokey Chatman, hoping to get her Tigers to a third straight Final Four, eased up and benched Augustus and her starters midway through the second half.
Sylvia Fowles added 15 points for LSU, Quianna Chaney had 11 and Ashley Thomas grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.
Florida Atlantic didn't look intimidated at all despite this being the Owls' first NCAA appearance. With senior guard Shontavia Williams having played against some of the Tigers in high school in Miami, that probably helped.
The Owls held a 16-10 edge through a tight first 10 minutes as the teams swapped the lead six times with three ties.
But LSU simply was faster and more athletic. The Tigers came up with nine steals in the first half that started fast break after fast break and finished with a team tournament record 17 steals.
Demina Anderson led the Owls with 17 points, and her layup with 10:24 gave Florida Atlantic its last lead before Augustus took over. By the time Anderson scored on a layup with 2:31, that only cut the Owls' deficit to 33-16.
When Missy Glaser added two free throws with 1:22 left, that kept the Owls from matching the fewest points allowed by LSU in tournament since Stephen F. Austin had 14 in the second half on March 19, 2000.
