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Home > SECWB News & More! > Our Staff & Contributors > LeAnne Harrington > Featured Columns > 2007 SEC Women's Basketball Tournament, DAY 4
2007 SEC Women's Basketball Tournament, DAY 4
Posted: March 15th, 2007 @ 1:43pm
Championship day in the SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament gets a lot of notice across the nation, and 2007 was no exception to that general rule. With the tournament’s top 2 seeds going down in defeat on semifinal Saturday, today’s championship game featured #13 in the nation Vanderbilt against #11 in the nation LSU. Vanderbilt got there by relying on what has keyed their success all season: their 3-point game. They shot a combined 19-of-28 from behind the arc in their quarter- and semi-final wins, proving convincingly why they are the #1 3-point shooting team in the nation. LSU gained their third straight trip to the conference championship finals (and 5th trip in the last 6 years) by relying on the strength of their inside game and the play of the conference double-double queen Sylvia Fowles.
But the conference championship final turned out to be anything but predictable. As a testament to just how well the coaches in the SEC know each others’ games, LSU shut down Vanderbilt’s 3-point game, holding the Commodores to just 1 of 9 shooting from long range. In turn, Vanderbilt took it to Fowles early and often, collapsing on her with double and sometimes triple teams inside. As a result, Fowles had the dubious distinction of NOT attaining a double-double against an SEC foe for the first time this season; she was held to 13 points and only 9 rebounds. Vanderbilt showed their versatility by finding other ways to win. Floor general and point guard Dee Davis, who had been somewhat quiet up to this point in the tournament, exploded for 19 points and hit Vandy’s lone 3-pointer. Just as they did in the semifinal against Georgia, Vanderbilt’s defense stepped up their intensity and held LSU scoreless from the field in the final 3:09. With Vanderbilt clinging to a 46-45 advantage, Davis burst through a double-team at mid-court and raced to the basket for an easy layup with 19 seconds remaining in the game. This proved to be the final nail in the coffin, as LSU was forced to foul the rest of the way and Vandy hit 3 free throws for the final 51-45 margin. This is Vanderbilt’s 5th Conference Tournament Championship overall, and 3rd in the last 6 years. Only UT has more Conference Tournament titles, with 12.
As SEC Conference Tournament Champions, Vanderbilt receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Vanderbilt’s Carla Thomas was named tournament MVP and was joined on the all-tournament team by teammate Christina Wirth, along with LSU’s Sylvia Fowles, RaShonta LeBlanc and Erica White, and Tennessee’s Alexis Hornbuckle.
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