LSU punches ticket to Sweet 16

• By WILLIAM WEATHERS
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Mar 25, 2008 - Page: 1C - UPDATED: 12:25 a.m.

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First-year LSU women’s basketball coach Van Chancellor was able to give his all-senior starting five the fitting tribute with 1:27 left in the second round of Monday’s NCAA tournament game.

One by one, Chancellor began substituting for Erica White, RaShonta LeBlanc, Sylvia Fowles, Quianna Chaney and Ashley Thomas in a curtain call on their final act in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

That also enabled the three remaining members of the second-seeded Lady Tigers senior class — Mesha Williams, Khalilah Mitchell and Marian Whitfield — to take part in the joyous occasion that reached a finality with a 68-49 victory over No. 7 Marist.

Together the entire team, led by the eight seniors, returned to the floor, waved good-bye to their fans before taking a victory lap around the arena to either exchange high-fives or hand shakes.

“I was just thinking this is my last time in this building and these fans are incredible,” White said. “I just wanted to go out and touch every single one of them and I knew that wasn’t possible. I just wanted to wave to as many people as I could and just make eye contact and let them know that they do mean a lot to do us.”

LSU (29-5) advances to Saturday’s regional round to face third-seeded Oklahoma State (27-7), a 73-72 overtime winner over Florida State, in the New Orleans Arena.

It will be the 16th trip to the Sweet 16 for the Lady Tigers and sixth consecutive for a program in pursuit of its fifth straight Final Four appearance.

LSU’s mid-game surge denied Marist (32-3) of a second consecutive Cinderella-type story after reached the school’s first Sweet 16 last season. The Red Foxes also had their nation’s leading 22-game win streak snapped.

“They were so well coached and so disciplined and did so many great things,” Chancellor said of Marist. “Maybe they didn’t have someone 6-foot-6 (Fowles) and a guard (White) that plays out of her mind like we did. I was amazed at how hard they play, how much heart they have.”

Three of LSU’s starters — Fowles, White and Chaney — delivered double-digit scoring efforts.

Fowles finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds — extending her Southeastern Conference record number of double-doubles to 83 — while becoming the league’s career leader in rebounds with 1,527.

White overcame first-half foul trouble to score 15 points in the second half while Chaney, a graduate of Southern Lab, had 10 points for LSU, which shot 54.8 percent in the second half and 47 percent for the game.

“She was well rested for the second half and played like she did, I thought that was her best performance since she’s been at LSU,” Chancellor said of White.