With No. 1 Tennessee holding an early 21-2 lead against No. 7 LSU, junior forward Candace Parker missed an uncontested layup that would have given the Lady Vols a 21-point lead just six minutes into the game.
Parker’s miss silenced the crowd of 15,574 at Thompson-Boling Arena but seemed irrelevant with the Lady Vols still holding a 19-point lead. Thirty minutes later, Tennessee needed all the points it could get as LSU used a 60-30 run to spark a 78-62 victory, the team’s second consecutive road win against the Lady Vols. Six Lady Tigers (21-3, 10-0) scored in double figures for the first time in the program’s history, led by senior center Sylvia Fowles who recorded her 75th career double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds. With the 17-point effort, Fowles now has 2,000 career points. LSU seniors Erica White, RaShonta LeBlanc, Ashley Thomas, Quianna Chaney and sophomore guard Allison Hightower each scored in double figures, combining for 61 points. “This is one of the most unbelievable games I’ve ever been involved in,” said LSU coach Van Chancellor in an interview on the LSU Sports Radio Network. “It couldn’t get any worse, but we sat around and talked about holding your composure, and we talked about playing hard and finding a way to win.” The Lady Vols (22-2, 8-1) jumped on LSU early, dominating the first seven minutes of the game, holding LSU to just one field goal. Junior forward Candace Parker scored 11 of her game-high 26 points in the first six minutes. “We played bad defense [on Parker] early, and that was bad coaching.” Chancellor said. “We made a change, but then it all worked for us from there.” Following Parker’s miss, the Lady Tigers controlled the remainder of the half, closing the Lady Vols lead to one point with just more than two minutes to play in the first half. But LeBlanc and White helped spark LSU’s rally, combining to hit five of the Lady Tigers’ 10 3-point attempts in the first half. With Thomas in foul trouble, Fowles also impacted the game on defense, holding Parker to just six points in the last 10 minutes of the first half, including an eight-minute scoreless drought that allowed LSU to cut the Tennessee lead to three at halftime. “I knew when we closed it at halftime, we had a shot,” Chancellor said. “When we went in down three, our players then thought we could win.” The Lady Tigers used hot shooting and aggressive defense to work through the second half, shooting 60 percent from the field while also limiting the high-scoring Lady Vols to 29 second-half points. Hightower came into the game two minutes into the second half and responded with a pair of perimeter jumpers to give LSU a 41-38 lead with more than 12 minutes to play. Hightower replaced Chaney, who could not find a rhythm against the Lady Vols defense early. Chaney made just one field goal in the first 30 minutes of the game. Chaney rebounded down the stretch to push LSU’s lead to 54-47 with six minutes to play after taking advantage of the Lady Vols’ zone defense. She also scored five of her 14 points down the stretch, hitting a 3-pointer with five minutes to go to give LSU a 60-51 lead. Both Fowles and Thomas played the final six minutes of the game with four fouls, helping LSU go on a 23-11 run to seal the victory. White scored 11 of her 16 points at the free-throw line in the final minutes. The Jacksonville, Fla. native also pulled down a career-high nine rebounds to allow LSU to quickly get into transition offense. With the win, the Lady Tigers can now clinch the Southeastern Conference title with wins in three of the team’s final four SEC games. “We’re going for an SEC Championship,” Chancellor said. “We have three [home] SEC games left. I want our fans – I don’t care if you’re a football fan or what kind of fan you are – I want you to come out and support this team. We cannot have a letdown, and fans are what prevent a letdown.”
—-Contact Casey Gisclair at [email protected]