LSU junior guard Allison Hightower had just five words to say Tuesday when asked if the Lady Tigers were among the top-64 teams in the country.”Of course,” she said. “Without a question.”Hightower did her best to back up her statement Thursday night, scoring 16 points and notching six rebounds and five assists to help the Lady Tigers (14-9, 7-4) lead from start to finish in a 57-46 win at Georgia (15-11, 5-6).”Hightower was her usual good self,” LSU women’s basketball coach Van Chancellor said on his postgame radio show. “She was 8-for-19, but three times she had to hoist up a 3-ball with the shot clock running down. She was terrific again.”The Lady Tigers carried momentum from their win against Florida on Sunday into the opening minutes of Thursday’s game and took an early 10-2 lead.The Lady Bulldogs narrowed LSU’s lead to 14-10 midway through the opening half thanks to the strong interior play of junior forward Angel Robinson, who used her 6-foot-5-inch frame to score 8 first-half points and finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds.LSU maintained its comfortable lead and took a 32-25 lead into halftime thanks to efficient offensive play.The Lady Tigers shot 44 percent in the first 20 minutes, led by 11 first-half points from freshman forward LaSondra Barrett.But LSU’s offense sputtered following their second-half surge, and the Lady Tigers went four minutes without a field goal to allow the Lady Bulldogs to cut the lead to 36-30 with 14 minutes to play.LSU’s offense continued to sputter throughout the half. The Lady Tigers had just three field goals in the first 10 minutes after intermission.But LSU kept Georgia at a distance thanks to a swarming defensive effort that limited the Lady Bulldogs to just 33 percent shooting in the second half.”When you’re able to guard somebody and you’re able to give up just 46 points to Georgia, who is a heck of a team, you have to feel good about that,” Chancellor said.Hightower put the Lady Bulldogs away for good late in the final half, scoring three points in a 10-0 run to give LSU a 13-point lead with three minutes to play.LSU also got plenty of help off of the floor on Thursday.With Arkansas’s upset win against No. 15 Florida and Kentucky’s home win against No. 19 Tennessee, the Lady Tigers are now in fourth place in the   Southeastern Conference with three games to play.Chancellor said with the way things have unfolded in the SEC this season, he likes his team’s chances just as much as any other team in the conference.”These kids did not play early,” he said. “I didn’t coach them well. But now they’re playing wel. Right now my energy is so high I can fly home on my own. I don’t need an airplane.”
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Contact Casey Gisclair at [email protected]