ATHENS, Ga. -- On what proved to be the final possession of
Georgia's season, Coach Andy Landers called for a necktie play.
As it turned out, Georgia was not yet ready to dress up for the
Final Four.
LSU's Temeka Johnson tied up Janese Hardrick, robbing the Lady
Bulldogs of a last-second shot attempt in Georgia's 62-20 Elite
Eight loss in Seattle late Monday night.
After crossing the half-court line, Hardrick bumped with
Johnson, dropped to her knees and lost control of the ball. No foul
was called, and when LSU's Wendlyn Jones came up with the loose
ball as the final horn sounded, Georgia's season was over.
"We were down two, so I just tried to go for the easy basket
and go for the two," Hardrick said. "I just lost my footing and
lost the ball."
Georgia caught a redeye flight from Seattle after the game and
arrived in Athens about 8 a.m. Tuesday, leaving the players and
staff to push aside Final Four dreams while attempting to catch up
on their sleep.
Landers said his team played well enough on defense to have
earned the sixth Final Four berth in Georgia history. Landers has
the most NCAA tournament wins (41) of any coach who has not won a
national championship. With Landers, Georgia is 5-5 in Elite Eight
games.
Georgia lost Monday night while making only seven of 13
free-throw attempts in the second half.
"I did not sense our kids get tight, I did not sense us get
nervous," Landers said. "Obviously when they missed their free
throws I thought something was probably wrong, because we just do
not do that very often. But I did not sense anxiousness."
Entering the game, Georgia had won 12 of its last 16 games, a
streak that began in January with an 80-74 victory over LSU in
Athens. Before that turnaround, Georgia had lost three straight
Southeastern Conference games and was tumbling toward the bottom of
the Top 25.
The highlight of Georgia's surge was an upset win over Tennessee
in the SEC tournament semifinals. Even before the win over
Tennessee, Landers said he believed his team had the potential to
contend for a national championship.
"I can honestly say that I've always felt like we could play to
this point and beyond actually," Landers said. "I've never given
up on that.
"The last two or three weeks, this basketball team has played
as good as any in the country, and I'm really, really proud of
them. They have a lot to be proud of," he said.
Christi Thomas led Georgia (25-10) with 19 points, but she
missed four of five free throws in the final five minutes.
Georgia's poor free-throw shooting helped LSU outscore the Lady
Bulldogs 8-1 in the final three minutes.
Before the late slump, Thomas had made 19 consecutive free
throws in the postseason, including the SEC and NCAA tournaments.
"We just couldn't get it done," said Thomas when asked about
the last five minutes of the game. "Over the course of a game, one
team makes a run, the other team fights back and that's what
happened. It went back and forth all day."
Georgia struggled to defend LSU standout guard Seimone Augustus,
who scored a game-high 29 points, matching the career high she set
against Texas Saturday night.
Landers said 5-foot-7 Sherill Baker and 5-foot-8 Alexis Kendrick
were "really, really good" in defending Augustus, but neither was
a good match for the 6-foot-1 standout.
"We knew that we had a matchup problem with Augustus," Landers
said. "We just don't have a big guard that can affect her the way
that I think she needs to be affected, yet our kids did a great job
on her. They were right there. They were doing everything that they
could do.
"(Augustus) is just very good and about four or five inches
taller than we are."