Summitt, who won her 11th SEC tournament crown, is a good bet to at least tie Smith, the longtime North Carolina men’s coach, as the leading winner in Division I when the NCAA tournament begins in two weeks.

LSU players sat quietly on the bench as the tournament trophies were given out. Ely was named the SEC torment’s MVP. Then Tye’sha Fluker and Shanna Zolman paraded an SEC logo around the court in triumph.

“I feel like we let something go that should’ve been ours,” Johnson said.

Seimone Augustus had 23 points to lead LSU while Johnson had 13 points and 12 assists.

The loss by LSU (29-2) finished a bad Sunday for No. 1 teams. On the men’s side, top-ranked Illinois lost its perfect season with a 65-64 defeat at Ohio State.

For so long, Tennessee dominated the Lady Tigers, winning 29 of 34 games between 1977 and 2002. But over the past few seasons, the LSU-Tennessee game has grown into the SEC’s most anticipated matchup.

The Lady Tigers first showed their power at the 2002 SEC tournament, defeating Tennessee 81-80 in the semifinals. Next year came a rematch for the tournament title with LSU on top again, 78-62.

But in the Final Four last spring, Tennessee outlasted the Lady Tigers 52-50 when LSU point guard Temeka Johnson turned the ball over and LaToya Davis scored with 1.6 seconds left to save the Lady Vols.

This year’s regular-season matchup was seen by a 15,233 at LSU, the biggest Lady Tigers’ crowd in history.

So it was no surprise when neither team could get very far ahead of the other for most of this one. There were 16 ties.

LSU’s biggest lead came at the half, 37-31, and Tennessee quickly erased that in the first 5 minutes of the second half to retake the lead, 42-41.

The Lady Vols never got up by more than 51-47, a lead that also didn’t last long.

Summitt said both Tennessee and LSU deserve No. 1 seeds for the NCAA tournament.

Augustus says the Lady Tigers will use the break between tournaments to regroup. “It’s a learning experience that no one wants to experience,” she said. “Of course we’ll bounce back.”

They just might find Tennessee waiting there when they do.

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