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CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) - The net dangled from the rim by its last strings while the LSU women's basketball team waited for coach Pokey Chatman to take the final cut.
Instead, she ran off the court to make an important phone call before she finished the ceremony.
Chatman wanted to hear what her coach and former boss had to say about LSU's 59-49 win over second-seeded Duke in the Chattanooga Regional final Monday, clinching a second straight trip to the Final Four.
''Congratulations, unbelievable and we're going back,'' Sue Gunter said to Chatman from her hospital room, where she is recovering from pneumonia. Gunter retired last season for health reasons, putting Chatman in charge, but Gunter remains at the heart of LSU's program.
''It's just a matter of what's important at that moment,'' Chatman said. ''And at that moment, that was the most important thing to me. I didn't think about the next.''
Chatman returned to the court after the call, gingerly climbed the ladder, snipped off the remaining strings and joined her team reveling in their big victory.
The celebration capped the top seed's toughest game so far in the tournament. LSU (33-2) won its first three games by an average of 36 points.
But Duke (31-5) could not withstand All-American Seimone Augustus and LSU's furious defense. LSU was down early but tied it at halftime, went ahead in the opening minutes of the second half and never trailed again.
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