The LSU women’s basketball team never trailed in its Sunday afternoon contest against Kentucky in the PMAC. That fact doesn’t tell how close the game was — but the score does. LSU (15-9, 8-4) led Kentucky (14-13, 4-8) by as many as 12 points but also let its lead slip to one point with 37 seconds left in a 57-56 win. “This was not the prettiest win,” said LSU coach Van Chancellor. “But let me just tell you — this is a win. This is a game we needed to have. This is a win we needed to make to keep our NCAA [tournament] hopes alive.” The Lady Tigers, leading by one, turned the ball over with 12 seconds left to give the Lady Wildcats one more chance to win the game. Kentucky senior guard Carly Ormerod took the inbound and passed it to sophomore guard Carly Morrow, who couldn’t convert the shot. “We got the ball where we wanted it to go. We were trying to run a little misdirection action there,” said Kentucky coach Matthew Mitchell. “We tried to set a good screen and really would have preferred if we put the ball on the ground since LSU closed out so aggressively. That’s the only thing that I would have told our plays to do differently.” LSU led by as many as 10 points in the first half. Freshman forward LaSondra Barrett put the Lady Tigers up 2-0 on a jump shot early in the game. Senior forward Kristen Morris followed suit, and LSU led, 4-0, after two minutes of play. Junior guard Allison Hightower sunk a tear-drop shot in the lane and drew a foul, pushing LSU’s lead to 15-8 with 8:11 in the first half. Hightower missed the free throw. It was a tale of two halves for Hightower, who collected two quick fouls in the first half. The tear dropper was her only field goal of the first half. But the Arlington, Texas native finished with 20 points. “The two quick fouls, they were just … little fouls,” Hightower said. “And then at the end of the game, they started calling nothing. It wasn’t very…consistent in both halves.” Barrett imitated Hightower two minutes later — except she made her free throw — giving LSU a 19-10 advantage. LSU held a 26-20 halftime lead. Barrett led all scorers with 11 points in the first frame. “I felt like I needed to be more aggressive offensively since [Hightower] was out,” Barrett said. Kentucky sophomore forward Victoria Dunlap sunk a basket at the end of the shot clock to cut the Wildcats’ deficit to 26-22 in the opening minute of the second half. Dunlap struck again with another jumper after a pair of free throws by LSU senior forward Kristen Morris. Dunlap led Kentucky with 21 points and 15 rebounds. But Morris responded with a basket and a free throw, giving the Lady Tigers a 31-24 lead. Twenty-five seconds later, a fast-break layup by Hightower helped LSU lead 33-24. Kentucky then quickly called a timeout. “We turned the ball over needlessly so many times,” Mitchell said. “We can’t do that and win basketball games.” A Hightower 3-point shot gave LSU a 48-39 lead with 6:23 left to play. Chancellor said the 3-pointer was a “big-time shot.” “She hadn’t made many all year,” Chancellor said. Dunlap wouldn’t let the Lady Wildcats go down quietly, grinding out a 3-point play the old fashioned way to cut LSU’ lead to 55-50 with 1:51 left to play. Hightower hit two free throws to put LSU up, 57-54, but fouled Morrow, who sunk her free chances. Then came the dramatic sequence of events at the end. “We’re going to take this baby any way we can,” Chancellor said. “I’m as relieved right now as I’ve ever been.” LSU plays Tennessee at 8 p.m. on Thursday in the PMAC.
 
 
 
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Contact Robert Stewart at [email protected]