LSU’s women’s basketball team already clinched a bye in this week’s Southeastern Conference tournament before its game against Ole Miss began. But the Lady Tigers wanted more in their final regular season contest.LSU (17-9, 10-4) accomplished just that, winning its fifthconsecutive game and clinching the No. 3 seed in the tournament with a 59-48 win at Ole Miss (16-13, 5-9) on Sunday.The Lady Tigers also attained their seventh-straight season with at least 10 conference wins.LSU coach Van Chancellor said he couldn’t be happier with the performance and what his young team has achieved.”If you’d have told me when we were 5-4 [in SEC games] and we had Tennessee, Georgia, Florida and all of them to play, I would have never thought this would be possible today,” Chancellor said in his postgame radio show. “I would not have dreamed we could do this with these kids and play this good defense.”LSU held Ole Miss to just 29 percent shooting from the field in its fifth SEC road win this season.Freshman forward LaSondra Barrett led LSU with 18 points on 8-of-15 shooting, scoring in double figures for the 16th time this season. The three-time SEC Freshman of the Week started 5-for-5 to open the second half.Junior guard Allison Hightower played 39 minutes Sunday after enduring cramps in the second half of LSU’s 63-61 win Thursday against Tennessee. After starting just 3-of-11 from the field in the first half, she finished with 12 points and tied a career high with seven assists.Perhaps the bigger story of Hightower’s day was her defense, as she held Ole Miss junior guard Bianca Thomas to 12 points and no 3-pointers on 4-of-10 shooting. Thomas scored 25 points and five 3-point shots in the Rebels’ win Thursday against Vanderbilt.Chancellor said containing Thomas was a necessity for LSU to come out on top.”Thomas has more range than I’ve seen in a long time,” Chancellor said. “No question in my mind, we had to stop Thomas to win the game. Hightower was the best defensive player in the SEC today.”LSU started fast in the first half, going on a 6-0 run in the first 1:26. But Ole Miss came roaring back with a 10-0 run of its own with 13:20 left.That was the first time the Lady Tigers trailed during their winning streak, and it only lasted for 1:24 as they responded with an 8-0 run.LSU led, 28-22, at halftime and by as many as 17 points in the second half. Ole Miss cut the lead to 7 with six minutes remaining, but Hightower fired off a jumper and a layup, and the Lady Tigers would not trail again.”I thought we needed this win to make sure we have a good shot to make it to the [NCAA tournament],” Chancellor said. “To finish third with this group of kids is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen.”LSU will play its first game of the SEC tournament Friday against the winner of Thursday’s game between Mississippi State and South Carolina.——Contact Rachel Whittaker at [email protected]