The New Orleans Saints may be getting all the attention for their undefeated season, but a team on campus has also been perfect — the LSU women’s basketball team.The No. 7 Lady Tigers are a blemish-free 6-0 on the season for the first time since the 2005-06 campaign, when LSU advanced to the Final Four.LSU coach Van Chancellor’s third year at the helm began with a bang. The first four games of the season — all at the friendly confines of the PMAC — were complete domination by the Lady Tigers.LSU outscored its opponents a combined 311-162 to nearly double their foes’ totals.The biggest blowout was the season opener against Centenary. The 92-19 victory was the most points the Lady Tigers have scored since they played Eastern Washington in 2006. “Not every game can a coach end the game and say, ‘I liked all players, and I liked how they played,'” Chancellor said. “All of them played well.”Next the Lady Tigers faced their only ranked opponent so far in this young season. Middle Tennessee entered into the PMAC as the No. 24 team in the nation and defeated the Lady Tigers the past two years.LSU came out with a vengeance and held the Blue Raiders to 40 points, their fewest since a 1998 game against Tennessee-Martin. The stingy defense was led by sophomore forward Taylor Turnbow, who had 17 points and 12 rebounds. “It was a mental game, being that they beat us the last two games we played them,” Turnbow said. “I just followed the coaches’ game plan and came into it level-headed.”It was much of the same against LSU’s next two foes — Houston and Nicholls State. The Lady Tigers took them on back-to-back days.Freshman guard Adrienne Webb stole the show against the Lady Cougars. Webb scored 17 points in the Lady Tigers’ 72-54 win. Junior guard Katherine Graham added a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. LSU turned around the next day and took care of business against Nicholls State, 86-49.
Senior guard Allison Hightower eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for her career on a free throw in the second half against the Lady Colonels. She became the 28th Lady Tiger in school history to pass the 1,000-point plateau.”I didn’t even know about it,” Hightower said of her career mark. “It was very exciting when I found out. It’s something special.”The ESPN All-American scored 15 points in the record-setting game as the Lady Tigers breezed through the first four games of the 2009-10 season.But the smooth sailing ended Nov. 25 during LSU’s first road game of the year at Tulane’s Fogelman Arena. LSU had a 13-point lead with 15:36 in the game before the Green Wave began their comeback. Tulane freshman guard Olivia Grayson nailed a pair of free throws to send the game into overtime. Hightower left the game with 2:44 remaining suffering from leg cramps.But LSU sophomore forward LaSondra Barrett carried the team on her back in the extra minutes. Barrett had seven points in overtime to push the Lady Tigers past Tulane, 73-65. “[Tulane] had a great game plan,” Chancellor said. “We just could not score at one time when we lost Allison Hightower. We found a way to take it over in overtime. Barrett was outstanding.”LSU’s fourth in-state foe was another challenge for Chancellor and the Lady Tigers. LSU beat a strong Louisiana Tech (3-1) team, 77-74, on Dec. 1 in Ruston, La. Hightower showed no signs of cramps as she scored a career-high 32 points in the team’s 31st straight win against a Louisiana team. The co-captain leads the team averaging 18 points per game.”I felt good shooting the ball,” Hightower said. “It was one of those nights where almost everything went in.”The Lady Tigers return to the PMAC on Dec. 13 to face New Orleans at 7 p.m.—-Contact Michael Lambert at [email protected]