Thousands of faithful Tiger fans filed into the Pete Maravich Assembly Center Monday, not only for the LSU-Marist second round match-up, but also to bid the Lady Tigers' eight seniors a final farewell.

“Of course we played with a lot of emotion but it didn’t dictate how we played,” Ashley Thomas said.

But the sea of purple and gold didn’t seem to phase the Red Foxes, who gave the Lady Tigers a run for their money.

"From the tip ball they had to play at our level and our intensity," Sylvia Fowles said.

“Because we’ve got the LSU across our jersey, people are going to come to play,” RaShonta LeBlanc said. “So they bumped up their game and we bumped up ours.”

The Lady Tigers jumped out ahead early, never losing the lead. But Marist hung around long enough to enter the break down by just two points.

"Going into the second half, we kind of played at their level. “We weren’t crashing the boards, they were getting shots off and they were running more than we were."

Not the case when the game resumed.

"Syl didn’t get all the touches that she wanted in the first half, but she came into the second half and we got her the ball more."

“I always go out with a little extra energy in the second half. There’s something about the break that makes you want to go out there and get it done."

“We came out in the second half and just left it all on the floor.”

And a sudden surge that came over the LSU crowd around the 13 minute mark proved to be just the spark the Lady Tigers needed, sending them on a scoring spree. The Red Foxes couldn’t catch up.

"When they started cheering, it gave us more and more energy and we got a defensive stop. That’s when we went on our little run."

That resulted in a 68 to 49 victory and a berth to the sweet sixteen. It also put LSU one step closer to the ultimate goal of bringing home a national championship title.