espnW Women's Basketball

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Temeka Johnson was eager to get on the court. Once there she made the most of it.

Johnson scored 17 points and had an LSU tournament record 12 assists as the fifth-seeded Tigers knocked off No. 13 seed Austin Peay 83-66 Sunday night.

"I think we were just anxious to play after practicing for two weeks," Johnson said.

Johnson, who ranks third nationally in assists, broke the old record that she held with Pietra Gay.

The victory sends LSU against 12th seed Maryland Tuesday night. The Terrapins upset fifth seed Miami 86-85 earlier Sunday.

Seimone Augustus led LSU with 21 points, Hanna Biernacka had 13 and Tillie Willis scored 11. The Tigers outshot Austin Peay 52 percent to 44 percent from the field.

LSU scored 44 points in the paint to 10 for the Lady Govs.

"That's LSU basketball," LSU coach Pokey Chatman said.

Austin Peay made 11-of-24 from 3-point range. Kera Bergeron led the Lady Govs with 20 points, including 6-of-14 3-pointers. Cassandra Peek scored 12 points -- 4-of-7 3-point baskets. Gerlonda Hardin had 12 points.

"Everyone did a good job of seeing the open person," Bergeron said. "I had some good looks but I missed some we needed."

Austin Peay (23-7) was persistent and threw a scare into the Tigers early in the second half, but LSU (24-7) was just too much for them -- too big, too fast and too deep.

Austin Peay opened the second half with a 7-2 run to cut LSU's lead to 5 points, 42-37 on a 3-point basket by Peek with 18:06 left. They never got that close again.

LSU, in its sixth straight NCAA Tournament appearance, was playing its first home game in the NCAA Tournament since hosting the first-and second-rounds in 2000. The Lady Tigers own a 9-1 record at home in the tournament games, including seven straight wins.

Austin Peay, the automatic bid from the Ohio Valley Conference, rode a five-game winning streak into the tournament after capturing the OVC tournament title.

LSU never trailed and led by as much as 13 in the first half. Austin Peay cut the lead to 5 points, 22-17, on a jumper by Carden Cobb with 7:14 remaining. The Tigers had a 10 point halftime lead, however, 40-10.